National fraud body probes advance fee malpractice
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The National Fraud Authority is investigating advance fee fraud in the commercial finance industry, thanks to the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers.
The trade association set up a fraud committee 18 months ago to investigate advance fee fraud in the commercial sector.
It found that a number of brokers were charging upfront fees but failing to follow through on deals.
The NFA has now asked the NACFB to provide it with background information on the industry and the records that it has on cases reported to it in the past 12 to 18 months, with a view to carrying out its own investigation.
The NACFB has put its fraud committee on ice because it feels it has achieved what it set out to do.
Nikki Cann, associate director at the NACFB, says: “Our fraud committee is on hold at the moment. When we investigated advance fee fraud we found it was quite a big problem although it was only happening at a few firms.”
Cann says the NACFB has gathered enough evidence and will be taking a back seat while the NFA investigates the matter.
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