We remind members to be vigilant to red flags that may indicate fraudulent activity by clients, their customers and suppliers, and others they come across in their role as tax advisers. Tax Advisers and Accountants play a crucial role in the fight against financial crime by identifying fraud during the course of their work and educating clients on red flags to be aware of.

The fraud aide-memoire here can be used at onboarding and throughout the client relationship to identify red flags and potential fraudsters or their activities. This guidance should be used when reviewing the risks that your firm is exposed to and the policies and procedures in place to mitigate those risks, and should be used alongside our pro forma documents and supervisory risk assessment.

Fraud can result in proceeds of crime which you may need to consider reporting to the National Crime Agency by way of Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). For further guidance refer to Anti-Money Laundering Guidance for the Accountancy Sector (AMLGAS).

Further information on fraud prevention, victim resources, and useful contacts is available from Action Fraud where there is also a facility to report fraud where it is not appropriate to make a SAR, for example where someone knowingly engages in criminal activity with no benefit.