Data obtained from ActionFraud under a freedom of information request shows that businesses reported £88m in losses from corporate employee fraud in 2017-18, up from the reported £40m lost in 2016-17.

In total, businesses submitted over 1,418 reports to the police about corporate employee fraud in 2017-18, a rise of 76% on the previous year.

The average loss per report in 2017-18 exceeded £62,000, up from £50,000 in the previous year.

According to the Home Office fraud categorisations, corporate employee fraud is where employees or ex-employees obtain property, or greater remuneration through fraud. It also covers the misuse of corporate cards and expense systems.

Examples might include submitting business expense claims for personal expenses, creating ghost employees on the payroll or claiming overtime for time not worked.

Akhlaq Ahmed, forensic partner at leading audit, tax and consulting firm RSM said: ‘Employee frauds can range from the very basic to the very sophisticated but all too often they go unnoticed and unreported.

‘It's not clear from these numbers whether incidences of employee fraud are increasing or whether more businesses are detecting and reporting their losses. However, the fact that we've seen reported losses double in a year should serve as a wake-up call to businesses that are overly complacent about fraud risk.

'With the right controls in place, businesses should be much better at detecting and preventing fraud.’

Ahmed said that in many cases, staff have suspicions or evidence about a colleague's fraudulent behaviour but feel hesitant about raising concerns. He advised that businesses should do much more to foster a culture which encourages whistleblowers to report their suspicions without fear of reprisals.

Report by Pat Sweet