Last updated: 02 Sep 2024 08:00 Posted in:
New figures from KPMG UK show that money laundering has been the most common fraud type by value in the past six months, with more cases reaching the courts than the previous six months.
The Big 4 firm’s Fraud Barometer found that nine cases have been heard in UK Crown Courts so far this year, collectively worth £128.2 million. “With the UK regularly cited as a hub for illicit finance, it is positive that more suspected perpetrators of this crime are appearing to be prosecuted,” the report said.
The research, which records alleged fraud cases with a value of £100,000 and above heard in UK Crown Courts, has revealed 122 fraud cases in total were heard in the first six months of the year. This is up from 105 cases during the same period in 2023. By contrast, fraud value was just over £305 million, a 14% drop compared with the first six months of the previous year, when the total fraud value stood at £354.2 million.
“Money laundering continues to be a problem in the UK due to the complexity and sophistication of financial systems that can be exploited for illegal activities. It will be interesting to see if the relatively new requirement for overseas entities to be registered at Companies House will result even more of these cases reaching the courts soon,” said Roy Waligora, Partner and Head of UK Investigations at KPMG.
The public sector has been the biggest victim of fraud in terms of value so far in 2024. Some 26 fraud cases related to the government have been heard, with a combined value of £193.4 million, an increase of 30% compared to the same period in 2023. The general public also continues to bear the brunt of fraud, with 41 cases totalling £33.2 million being heard in the UK's courts during the first half of 2024.
When examining the most common type of fraud, account takeover fraud was the highest by volume in 2024 so far. Some 16 cases with a combined value of £7.2 million have reached the UK Crown Courts in the past six months. This was followed by fraud related to counterfeit, pirated, or below stated quality goods (15 cases) and embezzlement (15 cases).
Waligora said: “Methods for perpetrating account takeover fraud are becoming more sophisticated, so it is promising to see that so many of these criminals are being brought to justice. However, with UK Finance reporting 121,650 cases of account takeover fraud in the whole of 2023, it’s clear that only a tiny fraction of these criminals are brought to justice.”
The KPMG Fraud Barometer is the longest running study of its kind in the UK. It has been tracking fraud trends since 1980s and its analysis of cases has continually identified trends in the types of fraud that have gone to court.
“Money laundering continues to be a problem in the UK due to the complexity and sophistication of financial systems that can be exploited for illegal activities."
Roy Waligora, Partner & Head of UK Investigations, KPMG