Covid-19 environment has led to increased financial pressures on individuals and organizations leading to more opportunities to commit fraud," Roy Waligora, KPMG’s head of investigations in the U.K., said in an emailed statement. “This is likely to lead to further risk of financial misreporting and of misconduct and fraud in traditional hot spots."The backlog of criminal cases in England and Wales stood at 37,434 at the end of 2019 and likely has grown considerably during the outbreak, when several courts closed their doors and others scaled back operations.Several cases may stem from the government’s job-retention program, the accounting firm said.KPMG says the U.K.