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.
Phil McGriskin is CEO and co-founder of Vitesse, the trusted financial infrastructure connecting the global insurance ecosystem. With more than 20 years of fintech and payments experience, he leads the company's global strategy, focusing on fund transparency and control, efficient claims operations and business growth.
McGriskin co‑founded Envoy Services in 2006 and led it through acquisition by Worldpay in 2011, later serving as Worldpay's chief product officer and head of Worldpay Futures. In 2014, he launched Vitesse, alongside Paul Townsend, to address inefficiencies in insurance payouts and liquidity management.
Under his leadership, Vitesse has processed billions in claims, including £4 billion in the past year—and secured major backing, most recently a $93 million Series C led by KKR to fuel U.S. expansion.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-mcgriskin-521a2b1/
Steve Abbott is head of public policy and government affairs at Gusto.
Agim Emruli has over 20 years of experience in software development, architecture, and leadership, working with different technology-oriented companies in various industries, such as finance, banking, insurance, government, healthcare, and retail. He is passionate about creating and delivering innovative and scalable solutions that address complex business challenges and enhance customer experience. As the CEO of Flowable, he leads the development and growth of the open-source Intelligent Business Automation platform that combines case, process, and decision support into a single solution. He also oversees the strategic direction and operations of Mimacom, a global software development and consulting company with a focus on agile methodologies and web services.
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.
