The Midlands has been identified as a fraud hotspot in new research from BDO, with the value of fraud in the region hitting £24m during 2024.

This total includes a case against a Worcester-based supervisor, alleging about 4,000 fraudulent furlough claims totalling £7m. Such false claims and overpayments ranked as the second largest granular fraud type by value nationally, totalling £60m of reported frauds across the UK in 2024.

BDO's latest FraudTrack survey said that only London and the South East, and the North West, recorded higher levels of reported fraud value than the Midlands in 2024.

https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/insights/advisory/forensic-services/fraudtrack