Fraud News

Several councils have received emails recently requesting information about businesses. It’s been confirmed these were sent by fraudsters, pretending to be senior officers from well-known businesses, so that they can apply for a Covid-19 grant.

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Fraud might be the last thing on your mind during this crisis, but sadly criminals will take advantage of any situation. This is no different with the coronavirus pandemic.

Scarborough Borough Council is set to join the Veritau group. Veritau provides internal audit, counter fraud, information governance and risk management services to over 500 public sector clients.

The Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally board has produced a strategy for local authorities which we're proud to have helped out with. One of Veritau's case studies is featured on page 16, which was the first social care fraud prosecution achieved for a council client. Follow this link to view the strategy:

Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally - strategy for the 2020s.

When you think of fraud, a school environment doesn't usually come to mind. But no-one is immune from the risks. Unfortunately school fraud can and does occur.

This could be from internal or external parties. In this post we discuss a few key areas of school fraud, and the importance of holding fraud awareness sessions with staff.

Types of fraud risk

A former civil servant at the Ministry of Justice has been jailed for committing fraud against his employers. The former contracts manager pleaded guilty to fraud and transferring criminal property. He created a fake IT service contract that received regular payments from his department.

A recent Blue Badge fraud case investigated by Veritau has resulted in a successful prosecution. 

In August 2019, a visitor from Middlesbrough was found to be misusing his relative’s badge in York city centre. The case was investigated by Veritau’s fraud team and prosecuted by City of York Council.

The case was heard at York Magistrates’ Court on 28 January 2020. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a fine and costs totalling £700.

We've been alerted that fraudsters are targeting Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments from developers. A CIL payment is a tax on new developments that councils can spend on infrastructure. It’s discretionary so not all councils use it, but many do.