Money laundering cases reaching courts on the rise, KPMG finds

Money laundering cases reaching the UK crown courts are on the rise, with nine cases collectively worth £128.2m heard so far this year, according to new figures from KPMG UK’s mid-year Fraud Barometer. 

Money laundering has been the most common fraud type by value in the last six months, and KPMG said it was “positive that more suspected perpetrators of this crime are appearing to be prosecuted”.

The research, which records alleged fraud cases with a value of £100k and above, found that in total, 122 fraud cases were heard in the first six months of the year, up from 105 cases during the same period in 2023. 

By contrast, fraud value was just over £305m, a 14% drop compared to the first six months of the previous year, when the total fraud value stood at £354.2m.

The public sector has been the biggest victim of fraud in terms of value so far this year, as 26 fraud cases related to the government have been heard, with a combined value of £193.4m. This marks an increase of 30% against last year. 

KPMG found that the general public also “continues to bear the brunt of fraud”, with 41 cases totalling £33.2m being heard in the UK’s courts during the first half of 2024.

When examining the most common type of fraud, account takeover fraud was the highest by volume in 2024 so far. Some 16 cases with a combined value of £7.2m reached the UK Crown Courts in the last six months. This was followed by fraud related to counterfeit, pirated, or below stated quality goods (15 cases) and embezzlement (15 cases).

Roy Waligora, partner and head of UK Investigations at KPMG, said: “Money laundering continues to be a problem in the UK due to the complexity and sophistication of financial systems that can be exploited for illegal activities. It will be interesting to see if the relatively new requirement for overseas entities to be registered at Companies House will result in even more of these cases reaching the courts soon.”