KPMG has found that SMEs were particularly vulnerable and were most often at the mercy of internal threats from trusted staff exploiting positions of authority.
One firm fell victim to an external threat when a person posing as a billionaire banker, helped a gang swindle a shipping firm out of £73m, while another case saw an advertising scam target thousands of SMEs who were tricked into paying for adverts for a magazine that did not materialise.
Hitesh N Patel, UK forensic partner at KPMG, said given the economic conditions many commercial businesses were looking at new ways of making money, which often meant dealing with people they had not encountered before.
“For commercial businesses, two of the biggest frauds recorded this year progressed so far because the fraudsters were able to create a reputational illusion, convincing victim companies to hand over large amounts of money – often sums that materially impacted their ability to operate.
“As the environment for business continues to be tight and competitive, fraudsters are able to hide easily among genuine businesses.”
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