Criminals beware, there’s a new forum to fight fraud in Northern Ireland

An innovative private-public-third sector partnership has been launched to help spread awareness of the dangers of fraud, scams and white-collar crime in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Fraud Forum is a new organisation which brings together representatives from the business community, professional advisors and practitioners, the public sector, and organisations from the community and voluntary sector.

The forum, launched this morning (Tuesday) at a virtual event in the MAC in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, aims to promote fraud awareness among businesses, the public sector, and third sector in Northern Ireland, allow members to understand how best to mitigate against the risks involved, and increase knowledge of how to respond effectively to fraud.

The new body is chaired by Bill McCluggage, managing director of Laganview Associates and former chief information officer for the Irish Government. The forum is comprised of private sector industry professionals like Eversheds Sutherland, Grant Thornton, and PKF-FPM, as well as public organisations like HMRC and the PSNI.

Speaking at the launch of the NI Fraud Forum in Belfast, Forum chair Bill McCluggage, said: “The NI Fraud Forum is a timely and important initiative for businesses and organisations across the country. Coming out of the pandemic, firms are operating in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable trading environment with unprecedented costs and record levels of inflation. Threats like fraud, scams, and white-collar crime present serious challenges for business owners and can have a significant knock-on and even life-changing effect for workers and households.

“Trade body UK Finance estimates that around £7bn is lost to economic crime in the UK every year, a staggering and worrying figure. Locally, this is compounded by the fact that Action Fraud figures show that people are over twice as likely to report being a victim of any type of fraud in the East of England than those living and working in NI.

“There is much more to do to make businesses aware of the dangers of fraud in NI, and this new forum hopes to mirror other organisations from across the UK which do excellent work in minimising the threat posed by fraud.”

Matthew Howse, Eversheds Sutherland Partner, Dispute Resolution and Litigation, added: “Eversheds Sutherland are proud to be involved in this new initiative which will raise awareness of the dangers of fraud and promote best practice among the public, private, and third sectors in NI. Fraud, white-collar crime, and increasingly sophisticated digital scams are a severe risk to businesses and organisations of all kinds and, in the worst instances, can lead to redundancies and life-changing circumstances.

“The NI Fraud Forum is a body which seeks to bring together the expertise of leading professional advisors and practitioners, as well as organisations at the frontline of the fight against fraud like HMRC and the PSNI, in an effort to professionalise the response to fraud locally. This is the first step in tackling economic crime and educating local business owners, employers, charities, voluntary groups, and other organisations about how to spot fraud, deal with it, and ultimately avoid its worst consequences.”

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