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Recession may lead to rise in fraud
BUSINESSES must do more to combat the risk of economic crime as the recession creates opportunities for theft
Robert Wardle, a consultant to law firm DLA Piper, said that, in light of the banking crisis, he also wanted to see tighter regulation and improved corporate governance.
Mr Wardle, a former director of the Serious Fraud Office, was speaking at The Business of Security and Protection, a Marketing Leeds debate, in which a senior terrorism adviser to Gordon Brown warned of the risk of another suicide terrorist attack in Britain.
More fraud will also be uncovered as the economic crisis plays itself out, Mr Wardle said, recalling Warren Buffett's dictum that it's only when the tide goes out that you can see who has been swimming naked.
Mr Wardle told the Royal Armouries audience: "Fraud is going to be more of a problem in a downturn. There is no doubt that more fraud will be uncovered and, in certain areas, the incentive to commit fraud will be greater, for example, if people are having difficulty paying their mortgage."
He also said that law enforcement agencies were not doing enough to stop counterfeiting but said they had suffered from not having enough staff.
"It is a matter of resourcing and of priorities – 600 or 700 in the police devoted to economic crime, and the Department for Work and Pensions had 3,000 devoted to anti-fraud and overpayment. It is not a lot."
Bruce Mann, head of the civil contingencies secretariat in the Cabinet Office, said at last Thursday's event, which was chaired by Matthew Amroliwala, presenter of BBC1's Crimewatch, that someone could slip through the net and that security was "too important to be left to the politicians". He called for a single person to take control of anti-terrorism strategy.
Mr Mann also said that electronic crime was "happening now" and that firms should be aware of the scale of the threat it posed.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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