The latest in a series of six-monthly reports from KPMG has revealed a huge jump in the occurrence and financial value of frauds.
Its “Fraud Barometer” showed that over the six month period to March this year, 116 frauds were committed, with a value of $381.1 million (that is, an average of $3.3 million per case). The previous six months revealed 91 frauds, worth $128.4 million (or $1.4 million each on average).
The KPMG survey concluded that the most common perpetrators are business “insiders”, with frauds attributable to management averaging $5.7 million, which is more than double that of non-management employees.
KPMG found that most frauds relate to misappropriation of assets, embezzlement and abuse of position. It also found that both locally and globally, whistle-blowers are becoming an increasingly important in detecting fraud, particularly where the fraud involves collusion.
Other key findings included:
Over a quarter of the fraudsters were aged below 36 years, which is almost double the proportion identified globally.Gender diversity among fraudsters is changing – the proportion of frauds committed by women in Australia have increased by 26%. Male fraudsters are responsible for 61% of the offences, with women now committing 39% of what KPMG labels “nefarious activity”.Internationally, the proportion of frauds committed by women identified globally was just 17%. Interestingly, male fraudsters were found to collude more than their female counterparts, both locally and globally.Investors and government agencies are more susceptible to being fleeced by fraudsters than any other category of victims. Government and investors together were the victims of more than $301 million of these frauds.The value of frauds against government agencies has increased by almost four times, and over six times for investors.Queensland and NSW top the fraud charts at $195 million and $124 million, respectively. A number of the significant investor frauds occurred in Queensland.Maintaining extravagant lifestyles and gambling were key drivers of frauds, regardless of gender.About 26% of frauds used technology to enable the fraud in the latest survey results, including spoofed emails and online identity theft. This compares with 24% of fraudsters using technology on a global level.
KPMG says some of the larger and more interesting Australian frauds include:
A $68 million tax evasion scam by an emerging technologies business in Queensland.A $65 million fraudulent investment scheme involving more than 11,000 investors in Queensland.A $60 million embezzlement scheme involving a financial adviser in NSW.A $33 million tax evasion scam by a stockbroker turned property developer in NSW.A $23 million sports betting scam in Queensland.
#[fraud], [scams], [tax evasion]
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