PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020

Fighting fraud: A never-ending battle

 

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Fraud: A continuing threat with climbing costs

Explore the key findings and insights from PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020

Duration: 00:02:14

Fraud rates remain at record highs - are you prepared to fight it off?

Judging from the news reports, fraud seems to be everywhere. Guess what: our latest global survey of fraud and economic crime suggests this isn’t far from the truth.

47% of companies experienced a fraud in the past 24 months

We quizzed more than 5,000 respondents across 99 territories about their experience of fraud over the past 24 months. Asking things like whether they’d been hit by fraud. How many times. What type. And what they’d done to prevent it happening again.

6 is the average number of frauds reported per company

What did they tell us? Nearly half had suffered at least one fraud – with an average of six per company. The most common types were customer fraud, cybercrime, and asset misappropriation. And there was a roughly even split between frauds committed by internal and external perpetrators, at almost 40% each – with the rest being mostly collusion between the two.

The total cost of these crimes? An eye-watering US$42 billion. That’s cash taken straight off companies’ bottom line. And 13% of those who’d experienced a fraud said they’d lost US$50 million-plus.

These are scary numbers. Yet all too many organisations are failing to respond effectively. Only 56% conducted an investigation into their worst incident. And barely one-third reported it to the board.

US$42bn is the total fraud losses reported by respondents

Only 56% conducted an investigation into their worst fraud incident

The message? For any business – yours included – the threat of fraud is current and growing. It’s a risk you ignore or underestimate at your peril. And too many businesses are doing just that.

Our Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020 insights will help you get clued up on fraud risks, and map out an action plan to respond. You should read it today. You’ll be glad you did.

How do your fraud programmes measure up?

Contact us to receive customised benchmarking

Three steps to combat fraud

1. Taking action: being prepared

If you don’t have the right elements in place to prevent fraud, take three clear steps.

2. Responding: doing the right thing

By using fraud as an inflection point for change, you can end up in a better place.

3. Emerging stronger: measuring success

Investing upfront in fraud prevention results in reduced costs when a fraud strikes.

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“When it comes to preventing and tackling fraud, our research shows that a dollar invested now is worth twice as much when a fraud hits.”

Kristin Rivera, PwC Global Forensics Leader

Download the survey (PDF 1.6 MB) Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020

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Contact us

Kristin Rivera

Partner, Global Leader, Forensics & Crisis, PwC United States

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Chris Rohn

Principal, Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020 Leader, PwC United States

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