The number of financial fraud cases coming to court has jumped in the first half of this year with a sharp increase in personal identity theft.

The survey conducted by KPMG reported that the number of fraud cases more than doubled compared with the first half of 2004 and almost equals that for the whole of 2003 with London remaining the hotspot.

The amounts involved in the courts rose by six-and-a-half times to £195m.

Jeremy Outen, KPMG's forensic partner said: "The recent trend in London has been an extension in the types of deception to inventing qualifications and pure identity theft."

Topics