Fraud is continuing to increase this year, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
The report found that 79 percent of anti-fraud professionals have seen an increase in the overall level of fraud as of November, compared to 77 percent in August and 68 percent in May. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents said in November the increase has been significant, compared to 34 percent in August and 25 percent in May.
TuongVy "Vy" Le is general counsel of Veda Tech Labs, which builds institutional-grade, noncustodial vault infrastructure for digital asset markets. Previously, she served as the general counsel of a federally regulated crypto bank, head of regulatory and policy at a registered investment advisor, and chief counsel of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and senior counsel in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC.
David Dienesch is the CEO of Allianz Trade in Canada and has served in this role for nearly 11 years, helping companies grow domestically and internationally. Prior to this role, he served in multiple leadership positions at Allianz Trade in Canada, such as Commercial Director, National Sales Director, and Vice President.
Michael Schor is a partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP's audit and assurance practice, where he focuses on advising our domestic and international clients on matters of internal controls, including information technology, regulatory matters, risk management issues, and control and compliance management processes. He leads Deloitte's internal audit practice, with more than 20 years of experience advising Deloitte's largest clients on the various elements of the internal audit lifecycle, including risk assessments, audit planning and execution, and reporting to audit committees and key executive stakeholders.
Cyber fraud, payment fraud (such as schemes with debit and credit cards) and identity theft are the three top fraud schemes seeing increases, according to anti-fraud professionals.
The largest increase in observed fraud was in financial statement fraud, with 7 percent more anti-fraud professionals reported seeing financial statement fraud in November, compared to August. That could be because as companies continue to see their profits drop, they feel more pressure to cook the books.
The survey also found 77 percent of anti-fraud professionals report that investigating and preventing fraud is more challenging now, while 71 percent said detecting fraud is more challenging as a result of the pandemic.
ACFE members anticipate the fraud trend will continue, even as vaccines have begun rolling out this week in the U.S. Ninety percent of the survey respondents expect a further increase in the level of fraud over the next 12 months, with 44 percent predicting the change is likely to be significant.
Nearly half (48 percent) of the organizations polled expect to increase their investments in anti-fraud technology, and 38 percent intend to raise the use of fraud-related consultants or other external resources. Budgets for anti-fraud training and professional development are experiencing a similar increase (according to 37 percent of the organizations polled), but nearly one-quarter (24 percent) anticipate a decrease in this area. The budget component most likely to see decreases is travel for anti-fraud staff, which shouldn’t be surprising given the plunging levels of air travel in general over this past year, with 38 percent of the survey respondents expecting a reduction in funds for travel in the year ahead.
