Don't be fooled by April fraud wave
Resellers warned to clamp down on false accounting
Resellers must clamp down on fraud checks to combat the wave of false accounts that is expected to land on Companies House's doormat in April as the financial year draws to an end.
A Department of Trade and Industry ruling that doubled the turnover threshold defining an SME from £2.8m to £5.6m means any firm with a turnover below the threshold is not required to have its accounts audited. This has left a loophole for fraudsters.
Alan Norton, head of intelligence at Graydon, said: "Fraudsters have moved onto smaller companies they know don't have the time to check every order thoroughly.
"The last time the audit threshold was changed we saw a wave of false accounts being filed. We expect the same trend again."
A representative of Companies House said: "We advise VARs to seek advice from an expert when checking accounts filed with us."
Stephen Gayler, managing director of VAR Elementary Computers, avoided losing £7,000 to fraudsters by refusing to deliver until the cheque had cleared.
"We had an order for 40 processors, but the person making the order had stolen the identity of a legitimate company and the cheque bounced," Gayler said.
"Never take it for granted that an order is genuine."