Fraud hits ten-year high

Fraud rocketed in 2005, with a surge in the second half of the year resulting in over £900m of fraud ' up nearly three times from the previous year (£329m), and the highest recorded level since 1995, according to KPMG Forensic's Fraud Barometer. The research, which for the last sixteen years has considered major fraud cases being heard in the UK (charges of over £100,000 in the Crown Court) saw 222 cases reaching court over the course of 2005, up from 174 cases in 2004.

The past six months have seen an explosion of fraud case prosecutions, many of them high value.

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