28 February - GP Jailed for £676k Fraud - Dr Roland Hankin, of Cheaselbourne near Dorchester, wrote fake prescriptions, forged invoices and amended chequebook stubs thereby defrauding the NHS of £676K. As a result he was jailed for 3 years and 9 months.

27 February - Accountant Faces Extradition to UK on Tax Fraud Charges - Ian Leaf, from North London, could be the first person to be extradited from Italy, by the Inland Revenue, to face tax fraud charges in the UK. The ILR alleges that Leaf is responsible for one of the UK's largest tax frauds, totalling £70m in unpaid tax.

27 February - Former Law Chief Jailed For Theft - Solicitor Roger Hartley, a former president of the Yorkshire Law Society and a partner at Soulby & Co. in Malton, defrauded clients of £67k in order to prevent bankruptcy. Leeds Crown Court sentenced Hartley to 12 months in jail.

27 February - Lies of Mother in £9.5 Benefit Fraud - Linda Wilding of Preston, claimed benefits as a single parent. In fact Wilding was living with her partner who was in full-time work. As a result the Benefits Agency paid out £9.5k in income support. Wilding was sentenced to 200 hours community service and charged with costs of £250.

27 February - York Demise of Credit Card Gang - A ring of credit card fraudsters who were scamming hi-tech companies across England came to a sticky end in York when Dixon's area manager Richard Carter and staff at PC World alerted police. As a result Ali Usman of Bolton was jailed for 15-months and Colin Esimaje of London is serving 12 months. Leslie Oritsegbubemi-Okomi also of London and the driver for the conmen is serving 240 hours community service.

25 February - Crackdown Urged on Over 20m Bogus Benefits IDs - There is new proof that social security fraud has not been contained since it has been revealed that there are 81m NINos in use in the UK where the population is 60m.

Comment: The programme of finding false NINos is to finish next month and the fact that the Government has no plans for a fresh initiative could be seen as foolish given these new figures. It would help if people were removed from the NHS register when they died. Some 83k have been removed since 1997 but given a death rate of 618k you can start to see an explanation for the extra 20m NINos.

25 February - Neil Hamilton The New Man in White - Ex-Minister Neil Hamilton is to don a white suit and challenge Peter Mandelson at the general election, on an anti-sleaze ticket.

Comment: What a hoot.

24 February - School Secretary Jailed for £220k Fraud - Christine Rose, of South Littleton in the Vale of Evesham, defrauded Offenham First School and four parish councils out of £220k by forging cheques, signatures, bank statements and council minutes. Rose was jailed for 4 ½ years.

Comment: Rose was a one-woman fraud ring causing huge amount of damage in her wake. The auditors finally caught her after 8 years. In some instances she had charged the school twice for her work, in other instances she charged for work never done. Offenham, South Littleton, Wickhamfodr and Honeybourne parish councils found that Rose had secured a loan of £115k from the Public Works Loan Board, £31k from Worcestershire CC, £20k from a play scheme and £68k in VAT fraud. Rose’s fraud cost the headmistress of the school her health and increased the council tax levels for the four parishes. Bad news.

23 February - Clampdown on Eye-Test Fraud - Lord Hunt announced that there are to be new checks to prevent fraud by people who seek free eye tests .

23 February - Judge Raps Nat West - Rachel Davies, a penniless shopaholic, was given a £20k credit limit and cheque books by Nat West Bank. Unsurprisingly she went on a six week spending spree during which she used up 19 chequebooks and ran up £20k on her account. Judge Jonathan Crabtree told Davies: "The mind boggles at the ease with which you were able to carry out the deception. One could say the bank was almost asking for it." Crabtree jailed Davies for 9 months but did not order her to repay the cash.

Comment: Judge Crabtree said he would normally jail her for two years, but cut the sentence to nine months "because the bank made it easier for you to commit the offence." A lesson there for us all.

23 February - Regina V Leicester Crown Court, Ex Parte Commissioners Of Customs And Excise - A judge who ordered the prosecution to pay the costs of two defendants, as being incurred as a result of its unnecessary or improper act or omission, on the ground that it had wrongly failed to disclose evidence to the defence, had acted within his jurisdiction and therefore his decision was a matter relating to trial on indictment which was not susceptible to judicial review. For full details see Times Law Report.

23 February - RUC Inspector Jailed for Corruption - RUC Inspector Derek Robinson has been jailed for 2 years, following a plea of guilty to 17 charges of fraud and interfering with the judicial system.

23 February - Zero Tolerance Tec Cleared - Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon is not to face criminal charges following one of the longest investigations into allegations of corruption.

22 February - "Dirty Needle" Dentist Jailed - William Duff, who ran a dirty dentistry and defrauded the NHS out of £12k, was jailed for 3 years.

22 February - £7m PC Component Tax Fraud Probe - 21 people have been arrested by Customs and Excise in a raid on a criminal ring who evaded paying VAT on computer components worth millions of pounds.

22 February - Accountant Admits Huge Cash Swindle - Martin Lang, of Glasgow, defrauded his accountancy firm, EKCT Technology Ltd of East Kilbride out of £300k. With the money he bought his girlfriend Margaret McFarlane a new BMW 3156 Coupe. Lang also gave McFarlane thousands of pounds in cash and helped her to purchase her council house. Sentence has been deferred until March 17.

22 February - Robinson Cleared - The former Paymaster General, Geoffrey Robinson, has been cleared of any wrongdoing over the collapse of TransTec, the company he founded.

20 February - Corrupt Officers Cost Scotland Yard £120m - The Yard’s huge anti-corruption drive, investigating corrupt metropolitan police officers, has cost the Londoner rate payer £120m.

Comment: This money could be spent on another 2,400 beat bobbies but who would then root out corruption in the force? So far 56 serving officers have been arrested and 13 of those have been convicted. 46 civilians have been arrested, 29 of whom have been convicted.

20 February - Probation For Woman in Benefit Fraud - Jill Franklin of Shildon, near Stockton, claimed nearly £4k in benefits to which she was not entitled since she was working as a factory packer at the time. Franklin, admitted making false claims and was given 12 months probation and ordered to attend a citizenship programme.

20 February - Two More Arrested in Dome Fraud - Police have made two further arrests in the alleged £50k fraud at the Millennium Dome. A man and a woman were arrested in Liverpool.

19 February - Call for Mailbox Scam Crackdown - A call has been made to crack down on the use of West End mailbox addresses used by fraudster to cheat victims out of thousands of pounds. Fraudsters use the addresses as a base for their cons which often ask that the victim send money to them. Westminster Trading standards believe that a WC1 address adds credibility to the ruse.

Comment: It is a problem. Legitimate businesses use these sorts of addresses, as does the conman. Another case of abuse that affects not only the victim of the fraud but innocent bystanders too.

19 February - Fraud Squad Inquiry At British Museum - Scotland Yard have started their investigation into the use of the wrong stone in British Museum’s Great Court. It is believed that Easton Masonry of Dorset, fraudulently used inferior French limestone instead of Portland stone in the £100m contract. Camden council which approved the work has also commissioned a report.

16 February - Hackney Launches Fraud Probe - According to Public Finance Magazine, auditors at Hackney LBC have discovered irregular cash transactions between the council’s bank accounts. Accounts have been created for which there is no explanation. External auditors have been called in.

16 February - Benefit Fraud Costs £1.3bn - Fraud and error in IS and JSA cost £1.3bn last year, according to a report by the NAO. This figure, representing 8.4% of total fraud, is down on the previous year but still very high. However, the drop, according to the NAO, might just be a statistical blip. LibDem, Steve Webb pointed out that "it is clear that [the Benefits Agency] are still not keeping adequate records to keep track of the problem".

15 February - Cashier Stole £2.5m - David Marshall lived the high life. A posh house in Brothwell, Lanarkshire, BMW cars for his daughters and a healthy betting habit which was not at all bad on a wage of £16k per year. A wage however which was being supplemented by an £83k pa scam in which he defrauded his employer, the multinational company Philips Electronics, at their light bulb factory in Hamilton. The fraud ran for a staggering 31 years and totalled £2.5m. Marshall ran a simple scam by collecting cash for the company, banking only a third of it and pocketing the balance and also changed cheque values, for example from £3k to £93k. He was jailed for 4.5 years.

15 February - Benefit Cheats Targeted in TV Campaign - The DSS is spending £9m on the much promised advertising campaign, designed to harden the public’s attitude to benefit fraud. The Secretary of State also announced £2.1 million for PiNS training.

Comment: There is an election coming, there is an election coming. I hope these adverts are better than the ones that have just been on TV for the new Children’s Tax Credit. If the intention was to discourage people from claiming the CTC then it should be very successful. In the DSS’ bid to re-invent the wheel they have clearly not taken advice from the Inland Revenue who keep tax evasion down by telling people that they WILL be caught and punished. Four people out of five would still defraud ILR but do not do so out of fear.

15 February - Lobby Group Lambasts New Fraud Bill - The parliamentary pressure group Eurim is trying to get companies to lobby government to change the Social Security Fraud Bill that has just been before the House of Lords. The Bill was amended in the Lords by the introduction of a code of conduct. This is likely to be the only amendment to the bill before it becomes an Act.

15 February - Local Authorities Sign Up For Housing Benefit Busters - According to the DSS, councils at Hull, Bristol, East Ayrshire and Lambeth are to bring in its new Housing Benefit experts team to get them out a jam. Experts are gathered from the DSS, IdeA, Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young and the councils of Redbridge and Leeds.

Comment: It seems like just the other day that Lambeth was to send out staff to show the rest of us how do it, now they are to be on the the receiving end of this new DSS super group. I do not know very much about Redbridge and Leeds, other than they received good BFI reports, but there is no sign of the other participants being experts in this field. I have never seen IdeA, Cap Gemini and E&Y as benefit experts. Given the review of IS and JSA from the NAO this week, eggs, sucking and grannies tends to spring to mind. Still perhaps there is going to be an election.

14 February - £35k Con by Council Manager - Trina Harrison-Jones of Holywell, North Wales allegedly received 43 fraudulent payments of housing benefit and paid them into her 3 bank accounts. Unfortunately Harrison-Jones was a senior manager for Flintshire County Council’s benefits section.

Comment: Allegedly Harrison-Jones set-up 24 non-existent housing benefit claimants and made payment to them. The fraud came to light while Harrison-Jones was on maternity leave.

14 February - Liddle Jailed - Alistair Liddle, the runaway solicitor from Elgin, has been jailed for a year. Meanwhile Liddle’s mates, in the Park Hotel Pub, raised £20 by betting on his possible sentence.

14 February - UK is Tobacco Smuggling Hotspot - According to officials at HM Customs and Excise, the UK has become the biggest market in Europe for illegally imported tobacco. Figures suggest that a third of the cigarettes smoked are illegally imported by organised rings.

14 February - Women Win Payout Over Bank Fraud Photo Error - Julie Evans and Nicola Channing were filmed depositing their wages at the Newport branch of Lloyds TSB. Unfortunately this innocent act ended with them being labelled as wanted criminals who were shown on the local Crimestoppers television programme and pictured in the local paper. An out of court settlement has been made.

13 February - Civilians to Interview Criminals - More civilians are to be hired by the police for duties including fingerprinting, preparing files for the CPS and interviewing, in a bid to free up the police and enable them to get back on the beat.

Comment: Interesting concept. Privatised police forces must be coming closer as a result. There has been some opposition from civil liberties bodies. I guess the government can not win on this issue. The civil liberties lobby will complain about the police and they will complain about civilian investigators. No major complaints from the police as yet. Solicitors have suggested that it is a charter for criminals, but why so ? If the civilians are trained why should it be worse ? Perhaps they are recalling how poor the civilian solicitors were at interviewing in the early days of the SFO.

13 February - Victim of Conman Claims that Fraud is Being Ignored - Bill Woodhouse, who owns a yachting instruments firm in Sturminister Dorset, has alleged that Sussex Police were more interested in policing hunt meetings than investigating fraud. Woodhouse was conned out of £900 worth of watches by a customer, who claimed that he was going to use them in a regatta. He gave a dummy address in Brighton and used a stolen credit card. Woodhouse was surprised to discover that Sussex Police were not going to pursue the matter.

Comment: One would hope that somebody would investigate. Either the credit card companies or the police but alas it is not likely to be so. Bill is right to assume that more police power will be devoted to hunt meetings. There is because they are more likely to cause a breach of the peace and it is a hot political potato now. It was a shame that it was Anne Widdecombe’s credit card that was cloned the other week and not that of Jack Straw. Given that the government want to make benefit fraud one of societies ills, on the same level as drink driving, surely this type of fraud which is equally prevalent is just as bad?

12 February - DSS Triumph in Charter Mark Awards - The Department of Social Security won 24 Charter Marks awards for excellence in public service. The Benefits Agency won 15, with 2 for fraud investigation while the CSA picked up 9 awards.

Comment: Congratulations to the winners. Unfortunate though that the announcement should come in a week when the NAO was critical of the service. One would almost think there might be an election on the horizon.

17 February - Benefit Fraud Ends In Court - Ann Taylor a bar steward from Harrogate was claiming Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. When Taylor started claiming she was on a low wage but in 1997 her wages increased. Taylor forged the signature of the club's accountant on the earning form that she submitted to the Harrogate Council. Over 4 years she claimed over £5k in benefits that she was not entitled. Taylor was sentenced to 140hrs community service and £118 costs.

17 February - Haulier in DSS Fraud - Thomas Roberts who owns Salterbeck, a Warrington based haulage contractor, admitted two counts of false representation when he submitted forms on behalf of his employees who were claiming benefits. All three employees were also convicted of fraud. Sentencing will be decided in three weeks.

11 February - DTI to Act on Conmen - The DTI is to ban negligent or dishonest bankrupts from being company directors for up to 15 years. Currently they are banned for 3 years.

11 February - Firms Stung for Millions in Fake Fuel Card Scam - A new scam is being perpetrated in Scotland. Criminals are cloning fuel cards by paying garage workers £50 to borrow them, before they are returned to their owners. The clones are sold on the black market.

10 February - OAP Foils £11k Internet Loan Scam - Patrick & Jean Wray were victims of an identity fraud when fraudsters, who used Mrs Wray's ID, secured an £11k loan from the internet bank Egg. Mr Wray, with a friend who was a retired police officer, started an investigation and tracked down the offender by following a redirection of post from the Wray's home. Egg however refused to prosecute the man.

Comment: A full set of forged documents was used to secure the loan and secure the redirect. VF officers take note.

10 February - Ruthless Equestrian Conwomen Are Jailed for £2m Fraud - Evelyn Burton and Lyla Andre mixed with the rich and famous when they posed as an international banker and a bond dealer. They promised millions of pounds in sponsorship and winnings. The pair disappeared to New Zealand when their cheques began to bounce but were arrested and extradited. Both were sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court with Burton receiving 5 years and Andre 3½ years.

9 February - 4 Guilty in £10m Fraud Case - Craig Dean, Lee Rosser, Julian Blee and Lewis Daulby have all been found guilty by Southwark Crown Court of a number of scams. They started by selling "quality young single malt whisky" which was actually a low-grade spirit then progressed to offering "millennial champagne" to investors as an expensive champagne when it was really cheap plonk. Victims included Barclaycard who had to refund £600,000 to investors. Rosser has been jailed for 18 months, with Blee receiving 12 months. Dean will be sentenced on the 6 March. Rosser and Blee are already serving 7 and 4 years respectively for a similar previous offence.

9 February - Alcohol Fraud Costs Customs £620m - A new NAO report, on the performance of Customs & Excise, accused the investigative branch of a "reckless disregard for the interests of the taxpayer". The report showed that £620m of alcohol for the export market, found its way fraudlently into the British market. Another £216m was sold fraudlently into the overseas market without duty having been paid.

Comment: The criticisms of Customs is that they became aware of this problem back in 1994 but took no effective action to prevent its continuation. Perhaps they took a leaf from the Inland Revenue's book.

9 February - Bogus Charity Worker Targets OAPs - A woman in her 30s is targeting pensioners in the Lockleaze area of Bristol. The woman has a false id badge, fake headed stationery and is claming to be raising money for Age Concern, by doing a sponsored walk. Pensioners are giving sums of £5 and £10.

9 February - Boss Sent Me 100 Filthy Emails - Tao Ball, a computer consultant for Swindon firm Kelros, told a tribunal that her boss, Marc Garcia sent her 100 filthy emails including pictures of lesbian and oral sex.

Comment: Garcia claimed that the staff enjoyed the pornographic emails and it helped staff to bond. That has to be the best one that I've heard since "Sue me! I have a sense of humour" or "Boys will be boys". The tribunal gives it's ruling in a fortnight.

9 February - Police Break Second Link in Video Racket - Norfolk Police have closed another link in an investigation into the country's biggest video counterfeiting ring. Police found a collection of 30,000 videos, including all the latest Hollywood blockbusters, in a farm near Banham Norfolk.

9 February - Trust Advisor Must Repay Money - Howard Reuben, a financial advisor from Stanway, Essex has been told to repay £4,500 that he stole from businessman Kevin Bevan. Bevan had given the money to Reuben expecting it to be invested in Allied Dunbar products. When he checked how his investment was progressing Allied Dunbar knew nothing about it. Rueben was sentenced to 200hrs community service and order to pay £920 court costs.

9 February - York City Flood Chief Resigns - John Simmonds, York City Council's head of emergency planning, has resigned as York City Council auditors have carried out an internal investigation.

8 February - R v Bevis - An offence, under section 208 of the Insolvency Act 1986, implied an element of dishonesty was to be distinguished from one of fraudulent trading under section 213 of that Act. For full details see the Times Law Report.

7 February - A Nation Of Terrified Taxpayers - According to a new survey by Exeter University, three quarters of the public would defraud the taxman but believed that they would get caught. The survey shows that while other Europeans see it as their duty to cheat the taxman the British would do exactly the same but are scared to do so.

Comment: This is interesting stuff. The recent Grabiner investigation into the black economy suggested that tax evasion was high, but this report suggests that in the UK tax evasion is low - 3% when compared to the law abiding population of Norway where it is 7%. This is down to good publicity. The French and Italians believe the taxman to be a bumbling twit, whilst the Brits believe that the taxman is part of a ruthless and efficient organisation which will hunt us to our graves and beyond, for every last penny. Actually the chance of being caught is less than 24%. Fascinating.

7 February - Darling Appoints QC to Cheney Inquiry - Alistair Darling has appointed Sir Gerald Hosker, QC to lead the inquiry into the handling of the disappearance of £3m from the pension fund of CW Cheney, the Birmingham locksmith. The Hosker Inquiry will investigate how the Occupational Pension Regulatory Authority dealt with the matter.

7 February - Prison Hotline - Plastic cutlery in Hertfordshire police cells has been embossed with the Crimestoppers telephone number so that the inmates can inform on their pals.

5 February - Company Fraud Can Bring Double Trouble - When the IM group dismissed Fitzgerald, its managing director, after he had been discovered committing fraud against the company they then sued him. Fitzgerald repaid the debt by giving back his shares in the company, but this did not cover the whole of the debt. IM then sued the auditors for the difference, for failing to detect the fraud. They paid up but in turn they sued Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald refused to pay stating that he had already settled with the company and the auditors should not have paid up. The Court of Appeal had a different view. Despite the fact that Fitzgerald had settled with the company, the settlement had not set in place any restrictions on the company from suing anyone else that they held accountable for the difference. Neither did it prevent any third party from suing Fitzgerald if it had incurred a loss through his actions.

Comment: Fitzgerald's solicitors should have got the wording right so perhaps he should sue them. It should be noted that director's and executive's insurance does not offer protection against fraud.

4 February - Benefit Cheat Law Will Lead to Racist Crackdown - The Sunday Telegraph has run an article, suggesting that the Social Security Fraud Bill is in danger of collapsing because it permits investigators to target black people. The article claims that Elizabeth France, The Information Commissioner (formally Data Protection Commissioner) believes the bill could be illegal because it breaches anti-discrimination laws. This argument is based on two aspects of the bill and a huge leap of logic. The first aspect is that the bank accounts of people suspected of cheating the benefits system could be inspected. The second is that the bill allows, "data matching" on people who belong to specific social groups. Therefore reasons Ms France, West African people will be targeted for their racial origins.

Comment: I suspect that the paper is misrepresenting Ms France's justified concerns. There can be no doubt that the risk is there. If any organisation practices institutionalised racism then they may well target a particular racial group. This will be tempting where groups, such as West Africans or Eastern Europeans, have a reputation (especially in the Telegraph) of being well practised and active fraudsters. However, the act itself is not likely to collapse or be deemed illegal as it has been made in conjunction with the Human Rights Act (a.19) and therefore any discriminatory use of the powers would become a breach of that act.

Comment: The plot thickens.

3 February - Vaz Fixer Claim - Government minister, Keith Vaz, is under fire again for holding a meeting in the Foreign Office to help Admin Ali, a restaurant owner and Labour Party donor, settle a £175k insurance claim against the Norwich Union. Following the meeting NU paid the claim.

Comment: This could be innocent enough but it does not look good for Vaz.

2 February - A Reckoning At The Russia House, SW16 - Following an undercover operation by police, investigating the bulk buying of pirate CDs and the sale of high-tech credit card skimming machines, Vladimir Stoguine and Alexandre Tanov have each been sentenced by Southwark Crown Court to four years imprisonment, followed by deportation.

2 February - Cheese Test Will Detect Noxious Whiff of Fraud - Believe it not, cheese fraud is big business. Fraudsters con consumers by selling cheese and other dairy items which are not produced in the region from which they claim to originate. The Food Standards Agency is to test a prototype machine that will identify a cheese by analysing the trace elements in the odour.

Comment: Golly Gromit what will they think of next?

2 February - Dentist Faces Jail for Fraud and Bad Hygiene - William Duff of Kilbarchan, once one of the best paid NHS dentists in Glasgow, faces jail for defrauding the NHS of £12,000 by falsely claiming for more than 70 patients who were not entitled to NHS treatment. Duff, who earned £1m between 1990 and 1994, was also accused of flouting hygiene rules.

Comment: Luckily the Strathclyde Police were on the job. No sign then of the NHS counter-fraud team?

2 February - DSS Fraud Circular F2/2001 - This circular tells Local Authority benefit inspectors how to obtain information from the Inland Revenue.

1 February - Detected Council Fraud Falls - The Audit Commission has published its anti-fraud annual report "Protecting the Public Purse". The report shows that, for the first time in 10 years, the level of fraud has fallen but it still totals over £100m. However 92% of that figure is still down to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit fraud. The report says that benefit fraud has fallen by 30% but the average value of each fraud has risen from £464 to £644. Other findings show that the value of detected fraud involving payment to suppliers and contractors has increased and that cheque interception and forgery has also increased. However, a new area of fraud is where landlords claim money for non-existent asylum seekers although the level of corruption is lower here with only 26 cases having been reported.

Comment: Before we start backslapping we need to take a reality check first. Benefit fraud is bound to have dropped because the rules for defining WBS and fraudulent overpayments have been changed, making it significantly different when identifying fraud. If the same rules had been used in past years then the reported figures would have been lower, but while the audit commission run the data matching service it has been in their interests to keep the figures artificially high. Nobody should be surprised that landlords have been ripping off the "asylum seeker grants". It has been going on for a couple of years now but it is not an area that Local Authorities have generally investigated. As far as corruption is concerned very little gets reported or investigated. Very few councils have introduced proper whistle blowing procedures (according to the report only 1 in 8 have a procedure in place which is very disappointing). Interestingly only 44% Councils have introduced VF – I would be interested in the correlation between its introduction and Benefit Fraud Inspectorate inspections. It will be fascinating to see how councils get on with the governance and scrutiny rules from the Local Government Act 2000.

1 February - Mandelson Hires Lawyers - Peter Mandelson has hired London solicitors Goldsmiths to assist him during the inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair.

1 February - No Tax! No Mercy! - The DVLA and Devon and Cornwall Police will have the vehicles of road tax dodgers clamped and then crushed in a campaign to rid the streets of Devon and Cornwall of unlicensed cars.

1 February - Twins' Mother In Fraud Inquiry - Officials in the state of Missouri, are investigating a case of welfare fraud against Tranda Wecker, the mother of the twins who were sold to Alan and Judith Kilshaw through the internet.