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Fraud crimes 'reach 21-year high'

Published on 21 Jul 2009 under category: legal

Cases of fraud crimes in UK courts have reached a 21-year high, the latest research has found.

According to figures from KPMG, there were 163 instances of serious fraud crimes, which involve values of more than £100,000, in the first six months of the year.

These were worth a total of £636 million, with investor losses accounting for £321 million of this.

Hitesh Patel, a partner for the researcher, commented that the "worst is yet to come".

He explained: "Hard times mean more people [are] driven to fraud by personal pressures, and more investors willing to believe in cooked-up investment schemes."

The study also found that professional gangs were the largest perpetrators of fraud crimes, accounting for £447 million of the six month total.

Earlier this month, the British Crime Survey found that cases of fraud involving company directors increased by 313 per cent during the year up to March 2009.