Financial fraud sees continued upwards trend

Recent data for the end of the third quarter shows that fraud is still on the increase.

According to CIFAS fraud prevention service, there has been a rise in the majority of the different areas of financial fraud.

Cases of application fraud for the aquiring of credit, insurance or other products, was up by 23 per cent with a total of 57,321 cases uncovered members of CIFAS.

Asset conversion and facility takeover cases showed sharp increases in the first three quarters of this year compared to the same period in 2006, at 24 per cent and 34 per cent.

Meanwhile, false insurance claims rose by nearly nine per cent in the same period.

Chief executive of CIFAS, Peter Hurst, commented on the findings: “Our statistics for the first three quarters of the year show a clear and worrying trend. Fraudulent activity is at an all-time high.

“Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and fraud departments are working harder than ever to protect their organisations from the onslaught.”

CIFAS members prevented financial losses valued at £1,900 per minute this year, compared with £1,400 per minute last year in the same period.

Tags: prevention service, finance, high, insurance claims, false insurance claims, chief executive