Criminals put spies in workplace

ORGANISED criminals are planting staff inside companies or threatening workers to scare them into giving out personal information, as new figures show staff fraud has doubled.

There was a 45 per cent increase in frauds committed by employees in 2009, in comparison with 2008.

The research carried out by CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, also shows a rise in theft offences such as fraudulent withdrawals from customer accounts and the theft of cash.

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Its report indicates that some frauds may be influenced by the

recession with previously honest staff turning to dishonesty in hard times.

But it warns an increase in personal data being stolen points to organised criminals either being planted in firms, or bribing or threatening staff to give them the personal information they are seeking.

These customer details can then be used in a variety of ways from raiding their victim's bank or other accounts, taking out credit cards or loans, opening store or mobile phone accounts or buying other goods in their names.

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The report says: "The criminals then use the data either to plunder the accounts of their victims or to make multiple applications in their names.

"This is serious on a number of fronts.

"The victims will suffer from having their identities misused and a victim's identity could also be used for other serious or organised crimes."

Earlier this year the Yorkshire Post revealed cases of identity fraud across Yorkshire rose by almost fifty per cent in the first nine months of 2009.

There were almost 5,000 cases of identity theft and the take over of another person's account in the first nine months of the year across the region, in comparison with 3,432 cases in the same period in 2008 – an increase of nearly 45 per cent.

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CIFAS's staff fraud report shows the proportion of men behind staff fraud increased slightly in 2009, compared with 2008, with men accounting for 61 per cent of staff frauds, compared with 58 per cent in 2008. Perpetrators on average are in their late twenties or early thirties.

Peter Hurst, CIFAS chief executive said: "The majority of staff working for any organisation are hard-working, reliable and honest individuals.

"There is, however, an immense threat posed by the small proportion of staff who act dishonestly and defraud the organisation that they work for: abusing the trust placed in them by their employer, their colleagues and customers alike."

Mark Bowerman of Financial Fraud Action UK said: "Occurrences of staff fraud are relatively low in the banking industry but, as with all types of fraud, the industry takes this form of fraud very seriously indeed.

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"Preventing and detecting staff fraud has a high priority with all banks – there is a myriad of different security checks and controls in place, all of which are kept under constant review.

He added: "Banks also work together to examine the ways and means that staff fraud may happen to ensure the measures in place to tackle it are appropriate."

Arjun Medhi, CIFAS staff fraud adviser, added: "Combating the threat of staff fraud is complex. Engendering an anti-fraud culture with the express support of senior management, of course, remains paramount.

She a number of simple steps could be taken to combat fraud include establishing a whistleblowing policy in the workplace, supplemented by a supportive process that allows employees to report illicit approaches made by criminals.