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.
With more than 30 years of experience championing causes that inspire social change through sports, entertainment, and pop culture, Lou Raiola is the industry's go-to resource when it comes to uniting stakeholder groups in collective efforts to drive positive social impact. He is also a leading advocate for the adoption of ESG within all types of organizations and is a leading expert on ESG strategy for supply chain stakeholders often speaking on the topic he describes as "The ESG Ripple Effect".
Nicole Stelter, Ph.D., is the director of Behavioral Health at Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan with more than $22 billion in annual revenue serving 4.7 million members in the state's commercial, individual, and government markets.
Stelter plays a key role in implementing Blue Shield's Behavioral Health Reimagined strategy. She is also responsible for providing behavioral health and market/provider expertise across Blue Shield of California's behavioral health initiatives, with a focus on commercial lines of business.
Stelter has more than 30 years of behavioral health experience, most recently serving as Kaiser Permanente's director of National Strategic Customer Engagement, Specialty Consulting for Mental Health, and Health Equity. In this role, she led the company's total workforce health portfolio, including providing internal and external consultation and product development for mental health, occupational health, wellness, Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), and disability management services.
Stelter holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in Counseling Psychology from California State University-Dominguez Hills and she earned a PhD degree from Capella University in Minneapolis.
Stelter is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a clinical trauma professional, and holds certifications in community/organizational disaster mental health. Her clinical focus has been with the first-responder community (police and fire), and she served as a behavioral health officer in the California Army National Guard (State Guard/Reserves) from 2010 to 2015.
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.
