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.
Matt Harmon has served as the senior vice president of claims for The MEMIC Group since 2015. In this role, he is responsible for all claim-related activities for MEMIC across 40+ jurisdictions. Matt brings more than 25 years of workers’ compensation claims experience to his position. Matt began his insurance career in 1994 after graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in Business Administration. Active in his community, Matt currently serves on the board of directors for the American Red Cross of Southern Maine and Boots2Roots. He is a 2019 graduate of Maine Development Foundation’s Leadership Maine program, and is a current MBA candidate at the University of Maine.
Joel Schwartz is founder and co-CEO of DoubleCheck Solutions.
Lynnley is a business journalist who previously worked for Bloomberg, The New York Times, Newsweek and The Boston Globe. She spent seven years in the 1990s in Russia, where she covered energy and commodities for Reuters in Moscow. A graduate of Princeton University, she is fluent in Russian. In a recent cover story, she examined how some ESG benchmarks and funds contain holdings that are contrary to their stated and perceived missions. Follow her on Twitter at @BrowningLynnley.
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.
