PwC survey finds economic crime continues to increase
- 34 percent of respondents were victim to one or more frauds in last 12 months
- Cybercrime on the rise as technology use expands
More than a third of businesses and other organisations around the world were victims of economic crime in the last 12 months, according to respondents to PwC's 2011 Global Economic Crime Survey released today. And nearly a quarter of victims said they were subject to cybercrime -- the use technology as the main element in the economic crime.
Overall, 34 percent of respondents said their organisations were victims of economic crime, a 13 percent increase since 2009. Theft or asset misappropriation (cited by 72 percent) was the most common type of economic crime reported, followed by accounting fraud and bribery and corruption (24 percent each) and cybercrime (23 percent). Victims of economic crime also reported significant collateral damage due to fraud. This includes damage to employee morale, cited by 28 percent, as well as to brand and reputation, and to business relationships, both 19 percent.
The survey of 3,877 respondents from 78 countries is the most comprehensive study of its kind. It found that economic crime remains pervasive among organisations of all sizes, in all countries and all industries. The communications and insurance sectors reported the highest incidence of fraud. Fraud against governments or state owned enterprises rose by 24 percent since 2009, moving it ahead of the hospitality and leisure and financial services sectors as a target for crime.
Cybercrime
Cybercrime now ranks as one of the top four economic crimes. The perception of cybercrime as a predominantly external threat is changing, and organisations are now recognising the risk of cybercrime coming from inside as well. Respondents said the Information Technology Department was the most likely source of cybercrime internally. IT was cited by 53 percent of respondents, followed by Operations, 39 percent, Sales and Marketing, 34 percent, and Finance, 33 percent.
While half of all respondents noted an increased awareness to the threat of cybercrime, the majority of respondents said they do not have, a cybercrime crisis response plan in place, or are not aware of having one. And 60 percent said their organization doesn’t monitor social media sites.
The survey found that the typical profile of an internal cybercrime fraudster was a junior employee or middle manager (cited by 85 percent), under the age of 40 (65 percent), and employed by the organisation for less than five years (50 percent).
blog comments powered by