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

A motor business is being investigated over a "large scale potential fraud" after trading standards officers in Telford noticed a "dramatic increase in complaints", a committee has been told.

Councillors were told that the amount of information that can be released is limited as a Birmingham-based Regional Investigations Team (RIT) is now ‘actively investigating’ the trader.

The RIT takes referrals from local Trading Standards services where a business or trader is causing problems to consumers on a regional or national level,” Telford & Wrekin Council's audit committee heard on Wednesday (May 28).

“Telford Trading Standards noticed a dramatic increase in complaints about a particular motor business, with a total consumer detriment estimated at over £300,000.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/business/2025/06/01/dramatic-increase-in-complaints-leads-to-investigation-of-potential-300000-motor-fraud-in-telford/

Investment scams saw a 34 per cent increase in losses in 2024 hitting £144.4mn, the first recorded rise since 2021.

The UK Finance Annual Fraud report revealed £1.17bn was lost to fraudsters overall in 2024 with 3.31mn confirmed cases.

Looking at investment scams specifically, cases fell by nearly a quarter in 2024 to 7,767, to the lowest since 2020, however losses were on the rise.

According to UK Finance the fall in cases and rise in losses marked a change in the profile of authorised push payment fraud compared with what it had observed in recent years.

Investment scams accounted for nearly a third of all APP losses last year, the data revealed.

“We noted last year that investment scams linked to cryptocurrencies have been on the rise and with increasing value and popularity, this is likely to be among the drivers of the loss increase in 2024,” the report explained.

UK Finance said it may see an upward revision to the 2024 data on investment scams as the data only reports closed APP cases but the nature of investment scams means it can take longer for some cases to be resolved.

https://www.ftadviser.com/fraud/2025/6/2/investment-scam-losses-hit-144mn-in-2024/

Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala is charged with fraudulent trading as part of an SFO investigation into a company that sold parts for aircraft engines.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has today charged Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala with fraudulent trading as part of its investigation into a company that sold airline parts for the passenger and cargo aircraft engines, the CF56 and CF6.

Zamora Yrala, the company director, is accused of operating UK-based AOG Technics for a fraudulent purpose. The company’s customers included airlines, maintenance providers and parts suppliers.

From 2019 to 2023 the company allegedly defrauded customers by falsifying documentation that related to the origin, status or condition of aircraft parts.

Planes in the UK and elsewhere around the world were grounded in 2023 after the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued safety alerts to airlines that may have bought or installed AOG’s parts.

Soon after, the SFO launched an investigation, later agreeing to conduct a joint investigation with Portuguese authorities into the supply of suspected fraudulent safety certification and parts. The Portuguese investigation is ongoing and last week authorities searched ten locations across Portugal and made three arrests with SFO officers in attendance.

Zamora Yrala will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday 2 June 2025.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sfo-charges-global-aircraft-parts-supplier-with-fraud-offence

A 'greedy' personal assistant who stole more than £166,000 from her employer despite living in a £1m house and having a rental property empire has been jailed.

Mum-of-two Hemalatha Jayaprakash was heard wailing as she was led down to the cells at Birmingham Crown Court, which heard she had supposedly not told her family what she had done.

The 44-year-old had worked at city centre-based Northwood estate agents for 12 years but made dozens of illegal transfers from business and client accounts to herself.

She claimed she used some of the money to pay her child's school fees and help relatives in India who lost their homes due to flooding.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/greedy-mum-living-1m-house-043000712.html

A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and gave two of them prison sentences for their part in the manipulation of emissions controls

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A German court on Monday convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and gave two of them prison sentences for their part in the manipulation of emissions controls, almost a decade after the scandal erupted over the company's rigging of diesel-engine vehicles.

The former head of diesel development was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, and the head of drive train electronics to two years and seven months by the court in Braunschweig, German news agency dpa reported. Two others received suspended sentences of 15 months and 10 months.

The scandal began in September 2015 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation. saying that the company had rigged engine control software that let the cars pass emissions tests while they emitted far more pollution in actual driving.

The company has paid more than 33 billion euros ($37.5 billion) in fines and compensation to vehicle owners. Two VW managers received prison sentence in the U.S. The former head of the company's Audi division, Rupert Stadler, was given a suspended sentence of 21 months and a fine of 1.1 million euros ($1.25 million). The sentence is still subject to appeal.

Missing from the trial, which lasted almost four years, was former CEO Martin Winterkorn. Proceedings against him have been suspended because of health issues, and it's not clear when he might go on trial. Winterkorn has denied wrongdoing.

Further proceedings are open against 31 other suspects in Germany.

https://www.valuethemarkets.com/news/german-court-convicts-4-ex-volkswagen-managers-of-fraud-in-emissions-scandal

In 2024 4.1 million people were victims of fraud which alone made up 43 per cent of all crime affecting those aged over 16 in England and Wales, and the government’s National Fraud Strategy estimates that fraud costs UK society £6.8 billion a year.

But our policing institutions have not caught up with the scale of that change. We have a 1960s local policing structure trying to fight a 21st century cyber-enabled cross border crime. As a result, the police are achieving limited success and victims are receiving too little by way of service. Yet fraud is not a ‘victimless crime’. Recent Police Foundation research has shown that fraud can have a significant psychological as well as financial impact on those who experience it.

This report makes eight recommendations for change. These include a focus on crime prevention, organisational reform including the creation of a single national body to lead and coordinate the response to fraud, collaboration with the private sector, a national economic crime workforce and ring-fenced funds ensure tackling fraud is sufficiently resourced.

https://www.police-foundation.org.uk/publication/a-victimless-crime-why-fraud-policing-needs-a-re-design/

A FORMER senior manager at an NHS trust in Dudley has admitted to defrauding the trust of over £120,000 over a two-year span.

Alec Gandy pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position while he was working as a Senior Operational Manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust.

The charge said the 42-year-old was expected to “safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests” of the NHS trust, but instead, he made a six-figure personal gain.

From April 1, 2021, until December 22, 2023, Gandy admitted he “dishonestly abused his position” at the trust, intending to make a personal gain of £123,090.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/former-dudley-nhs-senior-manager-152855270.html

West Midlands Police has issued a warning about a rising #WhatsApp scam targeting users in the region. Fraudsters are tricking people into sharing their six-digit verification code, allowing them to take over accounts and impersonate victims.

We’re issuing a warning about a rising WhatsApp scam affecting people in the West Midlands.

Criminals are trying to gain unauthorised access to victims’ WhatsApp accounts, leading to impersonation and further fraudulent activity.

How the scam works

WhatsApp takeover scams involve fraudsters tricking people into sharing their six-digit verification code. Once they have this code, they can log into the account, locking out the real owner, and use the compromised account to deceive others for personal gain.

The scammer will start by providing your phone number to WhatsApp, auto generating a verification code that will be sent directly to your phone. The criminal will then call or message you, often appearing as a known contact.

They will then often tell you that you are invited to an online meeting or make up another reason to convince you to share the code, enabling the criminal immediate and full access to the account.

This will cause a loss of all access to the account including any messages, media, files and contact lists.

It allows the fraudster to pose as the victim, targeting the victim’s friends and family often making requests for money or personal information.

How to stay safe and secure your account

• Never share your verification code with others.
• Enable two-step verification as this adds an extra layer of security
• Protect your data – only allow contacts to see your profile photo
• Be cautious of unusual requests from contacts – especially those asking for codes, money or personal details
• Verify directly - if a message seems suspicious, call to confirm their identity
• Report and block suspicious messages. You can do this within WhatsApp’s settings

If you’ve been targeted, contact your bank immediately to cancel cards and prevent financial loss.

WhatsApp has special advice on how to protect yourself from suspicious messages and scams.

https://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/news/2025/may/protect-yourself-from-whatsapp-takeover-fraud/

Cifas’ annual Fraud Behaviours Survey – research into public attitudes to committing fraud – is a useful bellwether into society’s attitudes to lying for financial gain.

Year-on-year our fraud behaviours work has demonstrated a growing normalisation of fraud by the UK public and the findings in the latest survey are no exception. Nearly half (48%) of survey respondents felt that it was ‘reasonable’ to commit first party fraud – when an individual supplies false information or misrepresents their income to receive services or goods they are not entitled to – and 1 in 10 admitted to committing some form of first party fraud in the past 12 months.

Whether making false representations on mortgage applications, claiming Single Person Discount on Council Tax, or claiming refunds for goods actually received it is clear that this behaviour is increasingly being tolerated by society, with those aged between 25–34-years-old most likely to commit first party fraud, according to our research.

Attitudes to first-party fraud appear to go hand in hand with the growth of other dishonest behaviours across society, including shoplifting. Although these crimes are often seen as ‘victimless’ and ‘fair game’, they are in fact a drain on our national financial wellbeing, resulting in higher costs to businesses which are then passed on to consumers through higher prices. Fraud against the Public Sector also directly impacts communities who rely on increasingly scarce resources.

https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/28418/challenging-fraud-behaviours--a-matter-of-national-prosperity