Economic fraudsters may be ‘winning the war’ in Thailand, PwC survey shows

Economic fraudsters may be ‘winning the war’ in Thailand, PwC survey shows

BANGKOK, 20 May 2020 – A decrease in reported fraud and other types of economic crimes in Thailand over the last two years may indicate companies aren’t doing enough to protect themselves, a survey by PwC shows.

Asset misappropriation leads the most prevalent crime

The survey shows that asset misappropriation is still regarded as the most prevalent and disruptive of all crimes impacting Thai companies, followed by procurement fraud, bribery and corruption.

Insiders were responsible for 59% of fraud cases in Thai companies, compared with 37% for companies globally. Another 18% of cases involved collusion between internal and external actors. This illustrates the fact that many fraud cases are highly complex and have multiple parties involved, making them more difficult to detect.

Survey respondents reported that 30% of fraud cases were detected from tip-offs and whistleblowing. Other methods, such as general fraud risk controls (3%), and internal and external audits (7%), were less common forms of detection.

Worryingly, less than 10% of corporate fraud programmes in Thailand follow best practises – indicating that many cases of fraud are undetected and underreported.

“Today’s companies need to take on board that the risk of economic crime isn’t going away any time soon. If anything, companies are becoming even more exposed as the business environment changes to take advantage of new technologies.

“Especially in this increasingly complex world, companies need to focus more than ever on assessing their defences against fraud, and their readiness to respond with effective fraud-fighting measures,” said Honma, who leads an expert team of local and foreign fraud investigators, forensic accountants and technology specialists at PwC Thailand.

PwC’s findings also show that a lack of expertise, resources and management support are impediments preventing Thai companies from implementing the necessary technologies to fight fraud and economic crimes. Many companies admitted that they don’t even have basic fraud programmes in place.

For Thai companies, Honma said, “the important question isn’t: Are you a victim of fraud? The question is: Are you aware of how fraud is affecting your organisation? The battle against fraud, corruption and other economic crimes is a never-ending one, and companies can pay a steep price if they leave them. It’s still not too late for us to take appropriate steps to turn the table against fraudsters and start to win the war.”

-ENDS-