15th November 2017.
Businesses Report £262m in Fraud Losses
Recent data has shown that UK businesses are losing £262 million each year on account of fraud.
The statistics were obtained from national fraud and cyber-crime reporting centre, ActionFraud, and revealed that businesses submitted almost 40,000 reports to the police about fraud in 2016-17.
The highest losses sustained by businesses resulted from incidents of cheque, plastic card and online bank fraud (£46.7m).
Akhlaq Ahmed, forensic partner at tax and audit consulting firm RSM said: “Frauds against businesses can range from the very simple to the very sophisticated”.
The highest number of reports were in fact committed by consumers themselves; where refunds were obtained from stolen goods, labels were switched on clothes, or people left restaurants without paying. This ‘retail fraud’ accounted for £7.7 million in losses.
Ahmed insists businesses can avoid such concerns by “simple controls”, he believes businesses are far too complacent about fraud risks and should be more proactive in ensuring defenses are in place.
“Those that don’t take action can find themselves very exposed”, he urges.
This week- November 12 – 18- marks International Fraud Awareness Week, promoting anti-fraud awareness and education.