The Profile of a Fraudster

It is estimated that in 2019, criminals made $4.2 trillion from fraudulent activity worldwide. Millions of people are affected by fraud every year, but how can you take measures to prevent it and what does a typical fraudster look like? With criminals using more and more sophisticated methods of fraud, it’s never been more important to safeguard your identity.

Are you doing enough to protect your business and your customers from fraudsters? The ACFE’s most recent study includes perpetrator data from more than 2,000 fraud cases, which can help organisations assess fraud risk in their own workforces. Let’s explore the profile of a typical fraudster in 2020:

• Males committed 72% of reported frauds and caused higher losses; nearly three times more than females.
• Occupational fraudsters who had been with their companies at least 6 years caused twice the loss of employees who had been in their roles for 5 years or less.
• Most occupational frauds were committed by employee-level (41%) or manager-level (35%) personnel. But fraud by owners/executives are much more harmful.
• More than three-quarters of all occupational frauds were committed by employees from 8 business units, with those in operations causing 15% of all incidents.
• 64% of occupational fraudsters had a university degree or higher and the average loss caused by them was almost double those without one.
• Older fraudsters caused much larger median losses, with those over 55 years old responsible for 65%.

Fraud is on the rise globally and criminals are using more and more sophisticated methods to steal personal information. Check out our infographic below where we discover how the typical fraudster is not necessarily who you would expect:

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<p><a title="Fraudster Profile - Acuant" href="https://hellosoda.com/blog/the-profile-of-a-fraudster/"><img style="max-width: 850px;" src="https://www.acuant.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Profile_of_a_Fraudster-1-547x1024.png" alt="Fraudster Profile - Acuant" width="100%"></a></p>

How we can help

Occupational fraud is on the rise and fraudsters are getting smarter, but with the right partner and tools, you can minimise the risk of fraud to your business and customers. With use of our product suite and single, universal API, you can securely verify up to 68% more customers than with traditional identity verification methods.

Acuant’s one simple, global solution, Sodium enables customer verification in real-time. Utilise a single element or multiple processes – it’s entirely up to you. Learn more about how we can help to automate and simplify your verification processes to help you gain a better understanding of your customers. 

Book a demo today and see for yourself how powerful our suite of solutions are.