Executives globally are seeing a major increase in fraud incidents, says a new report.
A total of 82% of the 545 senior executives surveyed worldwide said they had experienced a fraud incident in the past year, compared with 75% in a 2015 survey, according to the report issued Tuesday by New York-based Kroll Inc.
A total of 85% of the executives also reported their company had experienced a cyber attack or information theft, loss or attack in the last 12 months, according to Kroll’s Global Fraud & Risk Report.
Theft of physical assets was the most prevalent type of fraud reported in the last year, cited by 29% of the respondents, compared with 22% in 2015’s survey. This was followed by vendor, supplier or procurement fraud, cited by 26%, and information theft, loss or attack, cited by 24%, each of which increased by 9 percentage points from the previous year.
Among other survey findings, current and ex-employees were the most frequently cited perpetrators of fraud, cyber and security incidents over the past 12 months.
Of those who had experienced fraud, 39% said it was perpetrated by a junior employee, 30% by senior or middle-management employee, and 27% each by an ex-employee, freelance or temporary worker, or an agent or intermediary.
The online survey was conducted on Kroll’s behalf by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester Research Inc. in July and August of 2016.
Thirteen New York police officers and firefighters have been charged with insurance fraud after they allegedly filed false disability insurance claims, reaping more than half a million dollars.