- Fraud up 50% to £630m in first half of 2008
- Banks suffer all-time high of over £350m
- Mortgage fraud starting to make an impact
- Rise in accounting and employee frauds
Banks have been the main targets of a major spike in fraud coming to court in the first six months of 2008, according to KPMG Forensic's Fraud Barometer. Over £630m of fraud came to court across 128 cases, substantially up from £421m across 91 cases in the previous six month period, and of that more than half (£350m) was against the financial sector. KPMG has warned that the figures are likely to get worse as the full impact of the credit crunch unfolds.
Fraud against banks totalled more in six months than in any previous entire year of the 20 year history of KPMG's Fraud Barometer. Previously the highest level of fraud against the financial sector was £200m in 1998. The six-month high was fuelled in part by two big cases - an alleged £220m attempt to hack into Sumitomo Matsui Banking Corporation's systems, and a £70m attempted fraud within HSBC's securities services division (it does not include the Jerome Kerviel Societe Generale case, which took place in France).
See full Press Release.
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