The accountants and consultants say 14 large scale frauds, involving sums totalling almost £13.6 million came to court in the first six months of the year, compared with a total value of £6.6 million for the previous six months.

Cases in the region included a 17-strong group, including bank employees, who stole £4.8 million over 18 months from banks in a fraud involving hundreds of cheques and stolen IT equipment, and a businessman who was jailed for three years for breaching investment regulations and whose two businesses collapsed with debts of £1.2 million.

Nationwide, a total of 128 cases involving sums totalling in excess of £630 million came before the courts, compared with 91 cases, involving £421million in the previous six months. Banks were the main targets of the major increase in the value of fraud cases.

KPMG forensic director in Yorkshire,Vivien Osborne, said: "Fraud remains extremely prevalent in the UK with professional gangs accounting for over two-thirds by value, ranging from investment stings to trading scams, card fraud and money laundering.

"Banks are working extremely hard to protect themselves and their customers from fraudulent activity, but the signs are that organised criminals and syndicates have been relentless in their efforts. Mortgage fraud cases have started to come through in the courts too.

"The cases in this period's Fraud Barometer largely predate the credit crunch in terms of when the frauds were committed.

The fear is that we will not see the real and full fraud impact of the crunch for another twelve months."

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