ANTI-FRAUD experts are warning that extra vigilance is necessary while offices and workshops are running with reduced staffing levels.

People already on the fiddle are known to target the peak summer holiday period for their own illegal gain - internal controls tend to be weakened when members of staff cover for absent colleagues.

Fraud specialist Ian Cherry, of the North West Society of Chartered Accountants, said it was typical that people committing fraud avoided taking holidays.

"They'll use the holiday period either to extend their fraud, or very likely to try to cover it up," he said.

The most common scams are ordering too much stock that can be spirited away or placing dummy orders in exchange for a kick-back from a supplier.

Mr Cherry said ordering too many goods could be incompetence, but could also be part of a deliberate fraud.

He said basic precautions should include careful scrutiny of unusually large orders and the thorough checking of deliveries to new customers.

Mr Cherry said one absolute rule was for employers to insist that all staff take their full holiday entitlement, especially those who seemed unwilling to do so. They were the ones who might have something to hide.

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