The Aim of the Project

The culture of British business has a tendency to inhibit proper fraud prevention. The aim of the South West Fraud Forum is to promote fraud awareness and successful fraud prevention strategies across both public and private sector regions, by creating a culture of transparency with better flows of information and open discussion aimed at promoting more widespread understanding and better sharing of ideas.

'The National Fraud Authority estimates that in 2008 alone, fraud cost the UK £30 billion. On average it costs every adult member of the population £621 per year - both through direct impacts of frauds and recovered indirectly through taxation and the increased costs of products and services. This is a staggering figure which gives the UK its first comprehensive picture of the devastating consequences fraud has on the UK economy.'  [Dr Bernard Herdan CB - Chief Executive - NFA Annual Fraud Indicator - Jan 2010]

Fraud occurs in both the public and private sectors and will increase unless we combine forces to do something about it. Fraud is a difficult subject to talk about. In doing so we are highlighting our own deficiencies and those of our businesses. The South West Fraud Forum (SWFF) has been formed to promote change within an open, anti-fraud culture. It is the declared aim of the SWFF to enable members to participate in discounted training events designed to reduce fraud in the region by making the members better able to fight it.