The data, obtained from Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber-crime reporting centre, revealed that businesses submitted over 3,451 reports about mandate fraud in 2017-18, a rise of 123% over the previous year's figure of 1,551, which accounted for some £32m of fraud.

Mandate fraud occurs when an employee is tricked into changing a regular payment mandate such as a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer and redirecting it into a fraudster’s account.

Often the scam will only come to light when the real supplier chases for payment. In some cases, this can be many months after the first transfer of money.

According to the latest data for 2017-18, the average amount lost by each business was £22,500, 8% higher than the year before.

Akhlaq Ahmed, forensic partner at RSM, said: ‘‘Far too many businesses are falling victim to mandate fraud. In some cases, the losses are relatively small, in others they can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, potentially putting the future viability of the business at risk.

'Businesses must ensure their accounts staff are trained to recognise the hallmarks of a mandate fraud attempt. With the right training and controls in place, there’s no reason why these frauds should be successful.’

RSM’s advice for tackling mandate fraud includes improved staff training on the risks; ethical hacking exercises to test resilience to phishing attacks; verifying all requests for amended payments by checking directly with the organisation or supplier in question; regular monitoring of bank statements; and ensuring invoices or regular payment mandates are never on display for others to see.

Report by Pat Sweet