Sometimes, it’s nice to know that people are looking after you.

SWCRC were fortunate to secure an invitation to the South West Fraud Forum, held at the rather spectacular Glass Wharf in Bristol. A very impressive group of professionals from leading banks, law firms and professional service organisations, they have come together on an altruistic basis to pool information and intelligence about regional fraud, and to find ways to reduce its prevalence.

We think this is a hugely important agenda, and it’s one close to our heart. As several speakers said, fraud funds societal harm: it doesn’t just drain the finance from your businesses and charities, it also funds further crime. We should never regard fraud as an acceptable overhead, and it’s far from reassuring to know that the UK is amongst the hardest-hit of economies.

We’re going to be making two small steps to improve things. Firstly, we’re going to be joining up at https://swff.org.uk/members/become-a-member/ to support their further work, and to collaborate however we can. And secondly, we’re going to continue our efforts to protect small businesses and charities from those frauds which are digitally enabled. If this feels like a cause that you think worth supporting, please consider joining one or both organisations. We’re stronger together.

Thanks to altia and synalogik for sponsoring the event, and to all those on the committee who have worked so hard to develop strong foundations.