BDO Stoy Hayward has today revealed the massive cost of fraud to businesses in Scotland. The figures are astounding to say the least with fraud costing Scottish businesses £10 million in the first half of 2009 compared to just £1.8 million in the corresponding period last year. While instances of fraud are expected to rise during any recession, the 450% increase is staggering by any stretch of the imagination. So what exactly is going on?

During these times of economic hardship not only do consumers become more and more desperate but businesses also need to attract new custom to keep themselves afloat. Whether this leads to a reduction in monitoring programs or people are prepared to take more risk in the hope of saving their businesses remains to be seen but either way fraud has risen substantially. One of the alarming elements about this report is the fact that only a fraction of actual frauds are reported to the authorities therefore the figure could actually be substantially higher than the £10 million quoted.

Businesses and consumers need to be more aware than ever of the potential for fraudulent activity with fraudsters and crime gangs more active now than ever before.

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