Young fraudsters on the rise
28/07/2014
The cost of fraud committed by people aged 26-35 increased by 285% during the first half of 2014, according to a report by accountancy company KPMG.
Fraudsters in this age group conned their victims out of £62m in the six months to July 2014, meaning there could be a shift in who the stereotypical con artist is.
The research suggested that fraudsters are getting younger due to the generations “ease with using technology and data as selling promises”.
Hitesh Patel, UK forensic partner at KPMG said: "Where once it was the jaded executive who relied on unquestioned seniority and authority to get away with dipping their hands in the till, it seems we are witnessing a changing of the guard."
However, despite the increase in young con artists, total fraud dropped by 39% to £317m in the same time period.
This overall decline was mainly due to a 72% drop in fraudsters who are aged 46 and over, as this age category accounted for £88m.
Extravagant lifestyles
The research revealed that con artists have successfully tricked over 400 people into handing over sums which ranged from £20,000 to £2m during the first six months of 2014.
It was also suggested that younger criminals are using the stolen money to fund extravagant lifestyles, as some used funds to buy Lamborghini sports cars and luxury houses.
One fraudster even bought a fleet of supercars, invested in a racehorse and sponsored two Premier League football clubs.
In order to pull off the con, the ‘adviser’ created a bogus investment fund which investors could transfer money to. However, instead of investing the money in the hope of making a return for his clients, he simply spent the cash on funding his own extravagant lifestyle.
Need financial advice?
If you need to ask a financial question then please contact our financial advisers online or over the phone to get help with your query.
Share this..
Related stories
Men in more debt than women
Men who seek help with managing their finances tend to have as much as 20 per cent more debt than their female counterparts, the debt management company Chiltern has said.According to Chiltern, men are also able to afford to repay less to their creditors each month than women and take an average of 22 months longer than women to become debt free, even though they earn more money on average. Joanne...
Read MoreUniversity not worth cost, say students
22/06/2015 Many students believe the experience of education they receive from going to university is not worth the £9,000 a year cost, a survey from the BBC has shown. 40% of the first students to pay higher fees do not believe their course has been good value for money, according to the survey of undergraduates in their final year of degree courses in 2015. Just over half believed they we...
Read MoreBMI announces major redundancies
British Midland (BMI) has confirmed a further 600 redundancies and the termination of seven routes in an attempt to cut costs are hopefully secure the long term future of the popular UK airline. The company has also announced plans to return some of its aircraft to their leasing companies thereby put into effect a sharp about turn in the company's major expansion plans. Just a few months ago the c...
Read MoreNumber of insolvencies rises
The number of insolvencies in England and Wales rose during the third quarter of the year, according to government figures.Individual insolvencies increased by 8.8 per cent during the period, to reach 27,087, while business insolvencies numbered 4,001, an increase of 10.5 per cent over the quarter and 26.3 per cent compared with figures from a year ago.In terms of receiverships, administrations an...
Read MoreAre there really any green shoots in the UK economy?
One of the new phrases which has come to light over the last few months is "green shoots" which has been used on numerous occasions to try and instil some confidence into the UK economy and UK consumers. The problem is that there have been so many false dawns that consumers, investors and economists alike are more sceptical each time hopes are raised and then dashed.
We have seen nu...