article: The total figure was £8.6m, up from £6.8 million in 2013. KPMG's fraud barometer covers major court cases involving sums of more than £100,000. There were 13 such cases in 2014, with the majority being committed against financial institutions by bogus customers. In 2013 more than one third of cases coming to Scottish courts involved employees defrauding their own organisations, but the latest figures show that three quarters of total losses suffered were to con artist customers, mostly through mortgage fraud. Cases coming to court in Scotland in 2014 included: Ken Milliken, KPMG head of forensic, Scotland, said: "Individuals who gave false information to acquire mortgages are now paying the price as banks and then police look to crack down on mortgage fraud. "The numbers do not mean that mortgage fraud is on the increase but rather that investigation and enforcement activity is on the increase. "There are still many embezzlers and other con artists within this year's figures, opportunistically preying on the vulnerable or taking advantage of weaknesses in company controls." He added: "Because there will always be people willing to break the law for their own ends, the fight against fraud will never be won." "Companies cannot afford to be complacent. As individuals, we also need to be wary of that opportunity which seems too good to be true. It is that complacency and gullibility that fraudsters thrive on."
summary: The amount of money lost in high value fraud cases in Scotland increased last year by more than a quarter, according to accountants KPMG.