The reality of cyberfraud is that most fraud is generated internally by: 

• Occupational fraud - internally generated fraud - by employees 
• Poor internal practices.

Occupational fraud

ACFE has been reporting on occupational fraud since 1996, the 2020 report “REPORT TO THE NATIONS – 2020 Global Study on occupational fraud and abuse” shows yet again that occupational fraud is growing. The key findings study covered 2,504 cases from 125 countries and which caused losses of more than $3.6 bn were:

• Most organisations lose 5% of revenue to fraud/year
• Financial statement fraud schemes are most costly
• Fraud awareness training generates more tips via phone hotline and email about what is happening
• Men committed more fraud than women
• More than half occupational fraud came from four departments: operations, accounting, Upper management and sales
• The fraudster was often living beyond their means or was in financial difficulties.

Internal weaknesses that contribute to internal fraud

The study found that the factors that facilitate a perpetrator’s ability to commit AND conceal an occupational fraud include:

Source & Copyright©2020 – ACFE

The study also found that ‘a “Poor tone at the top” was a major factor.

Profile of a fraudster

The study also found that the typical profile of a fraudster was:

Source & Copyright©2020 – ACFE