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.
Robert Lewis is senior vice president of innovation and development at Verisk, where he uses data, analytics, and technology to drive efficiencies and automation in the claims handling process.
Rob was president of Verisk's Casualty Solutions from 2011 until 2022. He joined Verisk when it acquired Crowe Paradis Services Corporation (CPSC), a company he co-founded in 2006. Rob was vice president of sales and marketing from its founding until the acquisition, when he was promoted to president.
Prior to joining Verisk, Rob practiced insurance defense litigation in New Jersey and North Carolina and was a partner in the New Jersey law firm of Capehart & Scatchard. In 2004, he was selected by the New Jersey Law Journal as one of the "Top 40 lawyers under the age of 40."
Ilya Filipov has over 15 years of experience leading growth strategies across life, property, and casualty insurance. As Total Expert's General Manager of Insurance, he leads vertical growth and works directly with customers and prospects to address industry pain points and promote enhanced customer experiences across the entire financial enterprise.
Josephine Stone is Director, Digital Payouts at Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions.
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.
