In its annual FraudTrack report, released today, the firm also forecast that the total was likely to continue to rise, particularly owing to increased fraud in the areas of commercial lending and mortgage payments.
Although reported fraud dropped in 2010 to £1.4 billion from £2 billion the previous year, the firm believes this is because of 'long firm fraud', that can take over 12 months to complete, and which lasted the duration of the 2010 reporting period, but will carry on into this year.
In addition, the firm believes that economic recession can discourage whistleblowers, owing to concerns over repercussions to their own livelihoods and disenchantment with their organisations or industries.
For Simon Bevan, head of fraud services at BDO, the relative silence of whistleblowers threatens the existence of companies, because large-scale frauds can irreparably damage business.
"Although risk and compliance departments should address both old and new risks, they face limited resources – and giving equal attention to matters is problematic, often with new risks taking a lead," Bevan said.
The report also found that average custodial sentences for fraud have dropped to just over three years from 3.5 years, and that London, the North West and Wales are the UK’s top fraud "hot spots".
