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.
Jay joined Sentinel Group as part of the ERISA Consulting team. Jay brings more than 20 years of legal experience and seven years direct retirement industry experience to Sentinel after providing legal, regulatory and compliance services to clients over the course of his career. He spent 10 years as in-house counsel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the Transportation Secretariat.
Peter Epstein is a managing director of relationship management at Allocate, responsible for partnering with wealth advisory firms as they look to grow and expand their alternatives allocations. Prior to Allocate, he spent 11 years at J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management, including seven years within its Global Alternatives group.
Jane Diplock AO is chair of the Supervisory Board of the Global Reporting Initiative. She was appointed chair of the GRI Supervisory Board in January 2026. She is a highly experienced corporate governance professional who has served on numerous boards and committees for listed, private and nonprofit entities, with a focus on sustainability standards, regulation, impact reporting and digitization. She is a former Chair of both the IOSCO Executive Committee and the Securities Commission of New Zealand. Her current governance roles include positions with the World Benchmarking Alliance, A4S, Abu Dhabi Global Market Appeals Panel, Wellington Zoo Te Nukuao, and Persefoni AI. Earlier in her career, she led government departments in New South Wales, Australia, and held executive leadership positions in Westpac Banking Corporation. Jane holds degrees in arts and law and a Diploma of Education from Sydney University, and a Diploma of International Law, International Economics and International Relations from the Australian National University, while she was a Chevening Fellow at the London School of Economics. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her contribution to business and commerce.
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.
