Financial and legal experts have warned that the government's effort to halt the rising tide of business fraud is failing because of ineffective legislation and insufficient resources.
Speaking at a CreditUK debate in Manchester, specialists from the police, financial services and legal professions urged firms to lobby ministers for more support against fraud.
According to the latest figures, fraud costs UK businesses around Ј14 billion every year with SMEs alone losing an annual Ј38 million to dishonest workers. Over the past two years, over half of British firms have become fraud victims.
Lawyer Stephen Philippsohn said: "Fraud has a devastating effect on businesses, jobs and pensions, and the National Crime Intelligence Service (NCIS) has warned that organised crime now derives as much money from financial crime as from drug trafficking."
