Hackers drive massive surge in value of fraud in the region

New analysis by professional services firm KPMG has revealed the value of such fraud has shot up from £619,000 in 2015 to £2.1m in 2016 in the region.

The rise in cyber crime has helped drive the cost of fraud to Britain above the £1bn mark for the first time in five years.

The firm’s Fraud Barometer, which measures fraud cases with losses of £100,000 or more reaching the UK courts, also found investors to be the target of high-value fraudulent activity. These cases accounted for £11.7m of the combined value of all fraud in the region.

And while the value of fraud against commercial businesses decreased by 21 per cent, these organisations remained the most common victims of fraud, accounting for 40 per cent of total cases in Yorkshire. Professional criminals also remained the most common perpetrators, again accounting for 40 per cent of all cases.

Notable cases coming to court in Yorkshire in 2016, included a collections manager in Leeds who stole more than £100,000 from a company where he was employed to chase bad debts.

The fraudster carried out the deception for almost three years before his offending came to light.

In Huddersfield a man was jailed for his part in a sophisticated banking scam, in which staff in India were targeted to provide individual personal banking details to fraudsters with the potential to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The potential risk of loss on accounts had applications not been declined or blocked was estimated to be £797,411.

A fake billionaire from Leeds and his gang were jailed for stealing £5m from investors in a Panama land sting.

The fraudsters, from Leeds left victims with no pensions or savings after conning them.

A judge deemed the fraudsters to have ‘left a trail of personal and financial ruin’ while they spent money on exotic holidays and expensive sports cars.

Vivien Hopkins, forensic director at KPMG in Leeds, said: “Our region is known for its financial services sector, and its worrying to see the value of cases against our banks, building societies and investment community increase so dramatically.

“Our research also highlights the high number of unscrupulous individuals out there who are purposely targeting businesses for their own financial gain.

“All of this combined continues to highlight the importance of fraud prevention, and should prompt management teams to remain vigilant and keep alert to the risk of fraud.”

The total value of fraud in Britain soared 55 per cent to £1.14 billion last year with cyber fraud reaching past £124m in 2016.

KPMG UK forensic partner Hitesh Patel said: “Both public and private organisations openly acknowledge that cyber-attacks are one of the most prevalent and high-impact risks they face, and yet many operate on the basis ‘it won’t happen to me’.”

Business lobby group the Institute of Directors (IOD) said last month that a cyber attack was likely to topple a major company in 2017 as companies faced a growing threat to their security systems from hackers who adopt increasingly sophisticated means to breach systems.

Meanwhile, a survey by PWC found that 76 per cent of UK chief executives considered cyber risks a significant business threat.