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£1m lost by firms every year to fraud

Published On 26 February 2007 at 14:20:40

Fraudsters are making off with £1 million every year from one in 20 UK companies (5 per cent), new research suggests.

The research by the Credit Show shows that while 25 per cent of businesses have been fraud victims of their own employees, a further 40 per cent had been cheated out of money by customers, business link for London reports.

Figures released by the credit consultants reveal that a third of companies do not have the appropriate measures installed to prevent the fraud from happening in the first place - despite over half of firms having lost money from fraud.

It said that many firms never even realise that the fraudulent activity is occurring because those committing it were very skilled at hiding any trial of evidence.

Kelly Stanley, spokesperson for the Credit Show, said: "It seems that the majority of UK companies suffer from at least some low-level fraud, but the most worrying thing is the large number of businesses with little or no measures in place to spot fraud.

"Indeed, six per cent of the companies surveyed admit they have 'turned a blind eye' to fraud in the past, with half of those believing that the crime was either too small, or would be too expensive, to prosecute.

"The worry is that they will have missed many more scams or fiddles, which in total could be a major financial loss."

 

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