FRAUD cases heard in this region rose by 40 per cent last year, according to figures from KPMG's "Fraud Barometer".

The "detective" arm of the management consultancy giant, which employs 120 people in Southampton, considers fraud cases involving more than £100,000 which have been dealt with in criminal crown courts.

There were 56 cases in the region, including Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Dorset, compared with 40 in the previous year.

However, the value fell slightly, from £166m to £158m.

Paul Tombleson, the Southampton-based director of KPMG Forensic, said: "Whilst the value of fraud has fallen slightly, the rise in the number of cases is bad news for businesses, with more cases coming to light.

"Although our survey covers fraud cases over £100,000, we often find that losing even what may be relatively small amounts of money can disrupt cash flow and bring quite large businesses to their knees."

Cases in the south included:

A charity worker from the south coast who became involved in a '419' scam. Southampton Crown Court heard that the man believed he was going to make £36m after being persuaded by a group of West African con men to invest his own money, and went on to trick contacts and his employers out of almost £1m to facilitate the gang's demands for cash.

An Isle of Wight car dealer sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years' by Newport Crown Court, after cheating the Inland Revenue out of £67,000.

Having altered sales receipts so that vehicles he had accepted in part exchange and later sold for cash did not appear in business accounts, he used the cash for his own benefit.

A Poole businessman who was convicted by Bournemouth Crown Court of making £1.5m through fraudulently manipulating a government computer trading scheme. He spent the money on a luxurious lifestyle, including two houses, jewellery, cars and a speedboat.

Paul said: "Many of the frauds suffered by businesses could have been avoided. Simple but robust internal controls can prevent management, employees, customers and suppliers from exploiting weaknesses.

"Companies can also step up their proactive checks for fraud. There are technical tools available that can sift through large volumes of data to identify fraud red flags. "Such tools can help to identify fictitious customers, false invoices, ghost employees, duplicate payments, false expenses and company credit card abuses."