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Taxpayers bear brunt of fraud
Taxpayers bore the brunt of a huge increase in fraud last year, with the public losing nearly £600m, according to KPMG. In a year which saw the highest level of fraud since the accountant’s Fraud Barometer began 23 years ago, the cost to victims was almost £1.4bn. The number of recorded cases last year rose by 16 per cent to 314. Of the cases, 42.5 per cent affected the public purse – an increase of nearly 20 per cent.