Wednesday newspaper round-up: Fraud, cake war, London tube, Playtech

(Sharecast News) - The government has been warned by an influential group of MPs to urgently tackle a "fraud epidemic" across Britain, amid concerns about the increasing financial toll on consumers and taxpayers from economic crime. The Commons Treasury committee said ministers needed to bring in fresh laws and beef up resources for fighting fraud after a dramatic surge in scams during the coronavirus pandemic. - Guardian Colin the Caterpillar has shaken hands with rival Cuthbert in a resolution of the supermarket cake wars. Marks & Spencer has reached a deal with Aldi after taking legal action to protect its bestselling bug-shaped Colin cake. M&S had called in the lawyers over concerns that the German discount grocer's rival chocolate sponge roll, Cuthbert, was making copycat appearances at birthday parties and picnics. - Guardian

Sadiq Khan is threatening to shut the Tube for days on end and close bridges and tunnels across the capital as a black hole in London's transport budget balloons to £1.5bn. Introducing a road tax, increasing council tax and extending a congestion charging zone will not be enough to balance the books at Transport for London (TfL), board papers published on Tuesday reveal. - Telegraph

Google has brushed off fears that the waning impact of pandemic lockdowns will put an end to the tech boom as it smashed Wall Street profit estimates. Alphabet, Google's parent company, revealed that sales in the fourth quarter of last year reached $75.3bn (£56.2bn), a 32pc increase on a year earlier. Profits rose by 36pc to $20.6bn. Shares rose by up to 7pc in after hours trading. - Telegraph

A £2.7 billion takeover of Playtech by an Australian suitor looks set to fail because of opposition from investors. Aristocrat Leisure requires 75 per cent acceptance under the scheme of arrangement, which concludes today, but Playtech and Aristocrat were last night ready to throw in the towel amid indications that they had fallen short due to opposition from a collection of Asia-based investors who own about 28 per cent of the shares. - The Times