Among the most common types of fraud are manipulating bank loans or compromising e-mail with help from within the company, reveals an analysis by Corporate Intelligence Agency, published on Monday.
In the same context, the data of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) show that on the international level, companies, state institutions, and non-profit associations lose 5% of revenue annually, on average, due to fraud committed by their own employees, managers, and even shareholders.
“However, financial damage is not the only consequence of internal fraud. Companies suffer massive damage as a result of this phenomenon, which can lead to a loss of credibility and market confidence. Moreover, in some cases, internal fraud can lead to investigations against companies and attract criminal liability,” the analysis indicates.
According to the quoted source, the most common types of fraud are different schemes involving conflicts of interest, which is probably one of the most common fraud schemes in Central and Eastern Europe. Examples are numerous: employees determining or influencing the allocation of contracts for companies founded or controlled by them or their relatives (a typology frequently encountered in every industry); preferential treatment or awarding of contracts to certain business partners (usually seen in the pharmaceutical industry, retail and real estate development); manipulation of insurance policies (in particular through illicit arrangements between employees of the anti-fraud department and customers); handling of bank loans; compromising email with help from within the company; embezzlement or theft of goods (i.e., unauthorized use of company cars, laptops, or machinery of any kind – also very common in every industry).
The companies that generate the most examples of fraud are from the retail, investment, banking, production, pharmaceutical, IT, oil & gas, construction, logistics, insurance, telecom, management, and industrial services industries.
In Romania, more than 75% of Romanian companies experience fraud, even by their own employees, according to specialized research.
