Fraud: myths and misnomers debunked
24/03/2012
By Ben Simmons
As part of a continuing drive to inform the commercial world about fraud prevention tactics and risks, UK Fraud has published a list of common fraud misnomers. These include:
1. Mega Fraudsters Are Responsible For Most Fraud.
The vast amount of fraud in most developed countries takes place from lots of people stealing more modest amounts from government and from large corporations. So whilst we may occasionally read about the $ multi-million losses perpetrated by individuals, this is comparatively rare. There are many tens of thousands of people who steal $10 - $10,000 every day through false benefit applications, bogus grants, insurance claims, local authority claims, injury claims, stolen card usage and walking away from utility bills or internet orders. Oddly, the widespread deployment of IT systems to manage business processes often makes fraud easier, as fraudsters prefer such faceless processes to dealing with real people.
2. In The Workplace, The Fraudster Often Stands Out From The Others.
Where internal fraud occurs (i.e. fraud by staff), it is most frequently perpetrated by two distinct groups of people, both equally surprising:
a) young administrative employees mostly female, as they are usually more familiar with the systems and administrative gaps and may be motivated by an oppressive partner or a drink / drug habit;
b) The male “long service pin” highly trusted manager. Often the corner-stone of the office, who feels he has been overlooked for promotion, is overburdened with debt, work or family and could be suffering from other pressures such as a gambling, drink or drugs habit. 'Keeping up with the neighbours' also often plays a part. More recently though, there is increasingly a problem that some of these guys feel that they have been excluded by social media and know they that are either ‘on the shelf’ or worse sat ‘in the exit... continued on page two >
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