In today’s rapidly evolving fraud landscape, complacency is a costly gamble. Those well-worn phrases—“That will never happen to me” or “We’ve always done it this way”—might feel comforting, but they’re the kind of cultural blind spots that fraudsters love. These mindsets can quietly creep into even the most robust organizations, leaving them ripe for exploitation.

The New Face of Fraud: Sophisticated, Professional, and Persistent

Gone are the days of laughable scam emails from “Nigerian princes” or poorly written pleas for bail money. Today’s fraudsters are highly organized and laser-focused. They operate in large, professional crime rings, leveraging cutting-edge technology and psychological manipulation to exploit vulnerabilities. Think ransomware attacks that cripple critical infrastructure, data breaches that compromise millions, or phishing schemes that seem almost too convincing to question.

If you think fraud is someone else’s problem, consider this: every Social Security number in the U.S. has likely been bought and sold multiple times in the past five years. Business email compromise (BEC) is now the fraud frontier, with tactics so convincing they’ve fooled even the most tech-savvy individuals. And if you think only the elderly are vulnerable, you might be surprised—BEC schemes target businesses of all sizes, using tactics like fake surveys, phishing emails, and cleverly disguised links to steal sensitive data.

Real Consequences for Real Businesses

Fraud isn’t just a nuisance; it’s a financial black hole. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), businesses lose an average of 5% of their revenue to fraud annually. That’s a staggering figure, especially when you consider that many of these losses could be mitigated with proper education and vigilance.

Take, for instance, the all-too-common phishing email promising a $25 Starbucks gift card in exchange for a quick survey. At first glance, it seems harmless. But by the time an employee has clicked the link and entered personal details, a fraudster may have collected enough information to launch a full-scale attack. Repeated password entry attempts, prompts to reset passwords, and fake account setups are just a few of the tricks bad actors use to gain access to your systems.

The Key to Prevention: Culture, Training, and Vigilance

Fraud prevention isn’t just about having the right tools—it’s about fostering a culture that takes these threats seriously. While technology solutions like spam filters, email quarantine systems, and cyber risk assessments are essential, they’re only part of the equation. The real game-changer? Education and awareness.

Consider launching regular phishing simulations to test your team’s response to potential threats. Annual fraud prevention training should be a cornerstone of your risk management strategy. Teach employees to recognize red flags: unfamiliar senders, urgent requests, odd signatures, embedded links, and unsolicited PDF attachments.

And most importantly, empower your workforce to think critically. Fraud prevention starts at the top, but it’s a team effort. When every employee understands their role in safeguarding the business, they become your first line of defense against fraud.

Don’t Wait for a Wake-Up Call

The time to act is now. Fraudsters aren’t waiting, and neither should you. Adopt a proactive approach to fraud prevention, and let go of those outdated “it won’t happen to us” mindsets. By prioritizing education, strengthening your defenses, and cultivating a culture of vigilance, you can protect your business’s bottom line—and its reputation.

Fraud Week is the perfect time to take a hard look at your organization’s readiness. Are you prepared to outsmart today’s fraudsters? Contact us today to learn how our tailored fraud prevention strategies can safeguard your business.

This week, we were proud to support the ACFE’s International Fraud Awareness Week — a global effort to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education. As we wrap up our Fraud Awareness Week series, Fraud Stories and Lessons Learned, it is a pleasure to end the week with a message from Jon Groussman, President of Lowers & Associates (L&A). In this video, Jon discusses why fraud happens and how L&A works with organizations to detect, investigate, and prevent it.

Watch the video here:

Think it’s too good to be true? (You’re probably right.)

This week, we have been proud to recognize and support the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2020 Fraud Week initiative with our special Coffee Break Series. Fraud Week is an annual movement organized by the ACFE to champion the need to proactively fight fraud and help safeguard businesses and investments from the growing fraud problem. We have shared a number of stories and lessons through the eyes of Certified Fraud Examiners and other fraud experts on our team, examining issues such as fraud detection, whistleblower programs, situational awareness, and cyberfraud.

For our final episode, we interviewed Neil Watson, Director, Global Operations for Lowers & Associates. Neil has more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry which includes over 20 years working within the Fine Art, Jewellery and Specie (FAJS) sector. It is through this lens that Neil shares three stories of FAJS insurance-related fraud and key lessons that can be applied to any industry:

1. Nickel Wire: Worth How Much?

In this story, Neil encounters nickel wire that was reportedly worth $300/meter and the owner was seeking to insure 6 million meters worth. If nickel wire was worth that much, wouldn’t we all be invested in it? Neil shares how some quick research revealed the ludicrousness of this attempted fraud.

2. Rubies: Really?

Neil has some great stories to tell about ruby gemstones. The usual quarterly sale of all rubies sold around the world is in the neighborhood of $40-$50 million. The highest value single ruby ever sold was $30 million. Here, he shares what it’s like to receive a fantastic photo of a stone someone is wanting to insure that is reportedly worth $250 million. Really?

3. Platinum Concentrate: Unearthing the Truth.

Neil tells the story of the great effort a group of fraudsters went through to present a compelling story of $5 billion worth of platinum concentrate they wanted to insure. The Lowers team went so far as to visit the facility only to unearth the truth of the matter.

Grab a cup of coffee and spend 8 minutes with Neil to hear three stories that will make you believe when something feels too good to be true, it probably is.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s special Fraud Week Coffee Break Series. You can access the full roundup of episodes here. At Lowers Risk Group, we’re intent on helping organizations protect their people, brands, and profits from avoidable loss and harm. If you think we can be of assistance to you, request a meeting and let’s get to work.

Think You’re Not at Risk? Think Again.

Our special 5-part Fraud Week Coffee Break Series continues today where we invite you to spend 10 minutes each day learning about various aspects of fraud detection and prevention through the eyes of our Certified Fraud Examiners and other fraud experts.

For this episode, we interviewed Steven Schwartz, Chief Revenue Officer for Periculus and a recognized innovation leader in the fields of risk management and cybersecurity. Periculus is a digital risk company specializing in helping small businesses measure, understand, and protect against digital risks so they can pursue growth. Before launching Periculus, Schwartz led strategy and insurance at Cytegic, one of the industry’s leading cyber risk quantification platforms, playing a vital role in the company’s successful acquisition by MasterCard in June 2020.

In its September 2020 Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19 Benchmarking Report, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) reported, “Cyberfraud (e.g., business email compromise, hacking, ransomware, and malware) continues to be the most heightened risk for organizations, with 83% of respondents already observing an increase in these schemes and 90% anticipating a further increase over the next year.”

Many experts believe that organizations were simply unprepared from a cyber perspective for the pandemic and its resulting shift to a remote work environment where employees are now operating outside the usual infrastructure and oversight of their organizations.

As Schwartz explains, “We’re in an interesting time right now, where we’ve never been so polarized, yet so connected. With the increase in digital connectivity comes an exponential increase in the vulnerabilities and threats. The doors are open for attackers to exploit.”

Grab a cup of coffee and spend 7 minutes listening to Schwartz’s view on cyberfraud during COVID-19 and how organizations can better protect themselves moving forward.

How Can Organizations Better Protect Against Cyberfraud?

As with any type of risk an organization faces, it starts with an assessment to develop a true understanding of the risks you face and how those risks might impact your organization. From that place of understanding, you can make decisions about how to effectively mitigate or transfer those risks.

Schwartz explains it this way: “If you just tell me my risk is a 3 out of 5 and that’s all you tell me, I have no idea what that means to my business. But if you tell me I’m a 3 out of 5 with a financial impact of 2 million dollars, it becomes contextualized. And if we take that a step further and we’re able to demonstrate the controls you should invest in because they’re going to have the greatest impact in reducing your risk and financial impact and this is how much you should consider transferring via insurance, we can start to make sense of it all.”

We hope you enjoyed this Coffee Break episode. Come back tomorrow to hear from Neil Watson and lessons learned from real-life stories of fraud.

Looking at the Fraud Triangle During COVID-19

Today, we continue our special 5-part Fraud Week Coffee Break Series with another episode to address important fraud prevention topics with insight from our Certified Fraud Examiners and subject matter experts. Fraud Week is an annual movement, organized by the Association for Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), to champion the need to proactively fight fraud and help safeguard businesses and investments from the growing fraud problem.

For this episode, we interviewed Carlos Rivera, CFE, MAFF, Senior Vice President – Caribbean & Latin America of Lowers Forensics International and Grant Mizel, Financial Analyst, Emerging Markets for Lowers Risk Group. Rivera and Mizel offer their insight to help us understand the importance of situational awareness to an organization’s ability to detect and prevent fraud. They point to the Fraud Triangle as a model for understanding why fraud happens, but also recognize that without situational awareness, the Fraud Triangle is meaningless.

Grab a cup of coffee and spend 7 minutes with Rivera and Mizel:

Formulated in 1953 by criminologist Donald Cressey, the Fraud Triangle theorizes that fraud occurs when a perpetrator feels financial pressure, they are presented an opportunity, and/or they can rationalize the theft. For the Fraud Triangle to be valuable, organizations must be situationally aware. What’s going on in, around, and outside your organization? Which of these internal or external factors might be impacting the opportunities, rationalizations, and incentives that can lead people to commit fraud?

As Rivera points out, “Removing separation of duties and internal audit departments certainly creates the opportunity for employees to commit fraud. However, you have to consider the financial pressure and rationalization that goes along with a national catastrophic situation. In many instances, you’ll have employees who receive salary cuts that may not only feel financial pressure but also rationalize it by claiming what they believe is rightfully theirs, or you may see an employee rationalize through necessity which I believe can be just as powerful of a motivator.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has, unfortunately, led to situations where people have less supervision, more opportunity, and way more financial pressure than before.

As a result, in its September 2020 Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19 Benchmarking Report, the ACFE reported, “77% of respondents said they had observed an increase in the overall level of fraud, with one-third noting that this increase has been significant.” Furthermore, the ACFE reports, “Our findings indicate this uptick is likely to continue; 92% of respondents expect to see a further increase in the overall level of fraud during the next year, and nearly half expect that increase to be significant.”

Mizel remarks, “You talk about the Fraud Triangle and opportunity, when you give folks the opportunity, they are most likely going to take advantage. You can head that off by putting structures in place, rigor, documentation, automated processes… when you think about the employee, it’s not strange from a fraud examiner’s perspective that someone without oversight would take advantage of the situation.”

We hope you enjoyed this Coffee Break episode. Come back tomorrow to hear from Steven Schwartz, Chief Revenue Officer of Periculus, about cyberfraud during COVID-19.