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.
At Active Digital, David drives and oversees the company's go-to-market motions, client partnership and success motions, solution and delivery capabilities, and thought-leadership efforts. He also ensures corporate operations and talent alignment with the needs and pace of Active's growth and delivery orgs. Beyond his internal business leadership, David loves to invest time in strategic client relationships and projects.
Tom is a Principal in the Health practice and leads the voluntary benefits team at Buck, an integrated HR, pensions, and employee benefits consulting firm. For more than 20 years he has helped some of the country's largest and most respected employers design voluntary benefit programs that deliver on business objectives and drive greater employee engagement.
Usama Fayyad is Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI/ Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
Previously he was the Chairman & Founder: Open Insights, LLC, San Francisco, CA, USA (established in Seattle, WA, 11/2008). Chief Data Officer: Group MD, Barclays, London(2013-2016). Chairman Oasis500: appointed Exec Chairman by King Abdullah II of Jordan (2010-2016). Chairman & CTO: Blue Kangaroo (2010-2013), Burlingame, CA. 2004-08: Yahoo! Chief Data Officer/EVP – 1st CDO in industry. Co-Founder/CEO: Open Insights ('08), DMX Group (acquired by Yahoo! '04), Audience Science/digiMine ('00). 1996-00: led Microsoft Research Group & data mining SQLServer products. 1989-96: NASA's JPL earning Caltech's top research excellence award & U.S. Government medal-NASA. 1991: Ph.D. U of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2 BSE's: EE & CSE; MSE: CSE & M.Sc. Math)
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.
