2019 Fraud Week Wrap-Up

By Lowers & Associates,

We were proud to join the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) 2019 Fraud Awareness Week as an official supporter. Saturday, November 23, 2019 will conclude a weeklong effort by the ACFE to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education.

Companies lose an estimated 5% of their revenue annually as a result of occupational fraud, according to the 2018 ACFE Report to the Nations. It turns out, the risk of occupational fraud is much higher than many managers and leaders realize. Each case results in a median loss of $130,000 and with cases lasting a median of 16 months, fraud is something organizations of all sizes must take care to detect and deter.

In support of Fraud Week, we produced several informational articles, which are summarized here for easy reference:

2019 Fraud Week Series: How Technology is Helping in the Fight Against Fraud

How Technology is Helping in the Fight Against Fraud

The key to catching fraudulent actions before real damage is done is having systems in place to ferret out anomalies and report suspicious activities early. This means being equipped with tools like automatic monitoring, artificial intelligence, and anomaly detection protocols. For instance, surprise audits and data monitoring are a powerful combination in reducing fraud loss. Though only 37% of the companies examined in the ACFE  study used them, those that did got fraud cases under control in approximately half the time and reduced fraud losses by more than 50%.

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The ACFE’s 5 Big Fraud Tips You Should Act on Now

The ACFE’s 5 Big Fraud Tips You Should Act on Now

As part of the 2019 International Fraud Awareness Week, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) distributes information and training to help anti-fraud professionals reduce the incidence of fraud and white-collar crime. A recent ACFE publication, 5 Fraud Tips Every Business Leader Should Act On, spells out five ways organizations can work to prevent and minimize fraud in the workplace. We’ve paired their recommendations with the research-based actions you can take to achieve these aims.

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Recovering Fraud Losses: What the Numbers Reveal

Recovering Fraud Losses: What the Numbers Reveal

Losses from occupational fraud topped $7 billion in 2017, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) most recent global study on occupational fraud and abuse, 2018 Report to the Nations. The median loss for all cases in the study was $130,000 USD, yet a full 22 percent of companies lost $1 million or more. To add insult to injury, only 15 percent of businesses that experienced fraud were able to fully recover their losses.

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7 Must-Haves for Occupational Fraud Prevention

7 Must-Haves for Occupational Fraud Prevention

These seven fraud prevention strategies, drawn from the 2018 Report to the Nations by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), will go a long way in fortifying your organization against the conditions that can facilitate occupational fraud at the workplace.

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We hope you have taken some time this week to think about your 2020 fraud prevention programs and strategies and how you’ll build early fraud detection and proactive prevention into your processes.

No company is immune to fraud.

Lowers Risk Group Joins Movement to Shine a Spotlight on Fraud

By Lowers & Associates,

Fraud costs organizations worldwide an estimated 5 percent of their annual revenues, according to a study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). The ACFE’s 2018 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse analyzed 2,690 occupational fraud cases that caused a total loss of more than $7.1 billion.

The seriousness of the global fraud problem is why Lowers Risk Group announced that it will again be participating in International Fraud Awareness Week, Nov. 11-17, 2018, as an official supporter to promote anti-fraud awareness and education. The movement, known commonly as Fraud Week, champions the need to proactively fight fraud and help safeguard business and investments from the growing fraud problem.

Lowers Risk Group joins hundreds of organizations who have partnered with the ACFE, the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education, for the yearly Fraud Week campaign.

During Fraud Week, Lowers Risk Group will post a series of educational articles on its risk management blog at and will share fraud prevention tips and facts on its LinkedIn page.

Mark Lowers, President and CEO of Lowers Risk Group, remarks, “The ACFE has done an incredible job bringing awareness to the issue of fraud detection and prevention, and we are proud to be a supporter of this important effort.”

ACFE CEO and President Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, said that the support of organizations around the world helps make Fraud Week an effective tool in raising anti-fraud awareness.

“The latest statistics tell us that fraud isn’t going away, and companies that don’t have protective measures in place stand to lose the most,” Dorris said. “That’s why it is reassuring to me to see so many businesses, agencies, universities and other organizations involved in the Fraud Week movement. The first step in combating fraud is raising awareness worldwide that it is a serious problem that requires a proactive approach toward preventing it.”

“Since our first Fraud Week almost 20 years ago, the movement continues to grow,” Dorris said. “I heartily thank all of the supporters of Fraud Week for making it what it is today.”

For more information about increasing awareness and reducing the risk of fraud during International Fraud Awareness Week, visit FraudWeek.com.

The 2018 Report to the Nations is available for download online at the ACFE’s website: ACFE.com/RTTN.  The Report is in PDF format.

About the Lowers Risk Group

Lowers Risk Group provides comprehensive enterprise risk management solutions to organizations operating in high-risk, highly-regulated environments and organizations that value risk mitigation. Our human capital and specialized industry enterprise risk management solutions protect people, brands, and profits from avoidable loss and harm. For more information, visit lowersriskgroup.com.

About the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Based in Austin, Texas, the ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. Together with nearly 85,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud worldwide and inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession. For more information, visit ACFE.com.

 

 

  Category: Occupational Fraud
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5 Basic Fraud Steps Every Organization Should Take

By Lowers & Associates,

Almost every organization is vulnerable to occupational fraud and abuse, and the impact of fraud can be costly. The 2016 Report to the Nations by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), indicates that the worldwide loss to fraud across all organizations is 5% of topline revenue. Based on reported cases of fraud, the median cost per case was $145,000, and some others were much more.

As part of the International Fraud Awareness Week for 2016, ACFE published 5 Fraud Tips, a one-page summary of steps an organization can take to reduce its vulnerability. Implementing these steps cannot guarantee your organization won’t suffer occupational fraud, but it will certainly improve the odds.

1. Be Proactive

Top management needs to put in place policies and procedures that set a tone from the top against fraud. This may include a code of ethics taught to every employee, with on-going follow up training that emphasizes the danger and unacceptability of fraud. Traditional financial controls should be in place and reviewed on a regular basis, possibly with an independent internal audit function. Fraud prevention will be enhanced through organizational structures like effective separation of duties.

2. Establish Hiring Procedures

The person you hire may be a future fraudster. The hiring process is an opportunity to look into the background of an applicant to look for factors that may indicate risk. Where it is legal, and following best practice guidelines strictly, employers can run a variety of background checks to get a fuller picture of an applicant’s character.

3. Train Employees in Fraud Prevention

Employee training can go beyond the code of ethics. Employees are on the frontline of fraud, working with others every day and working with the systems and controls that are potentially vulnerable to fraud. These employees need to be aware of the signs of fraud both in evidence (such as breeches of a control), and in the behavior of their colleagues. One of the most difficult factors of fraud to combat is the pressure employees may feel to look for ways to commit fraud.

4. Implement a Fraud Hotline

A straightforward way to improve fraud detection is a fair and anonymous hotline for reporting potential frauds. A tip has long been the most important source for fraud reporting, and the hotline can facilitate it.

5. Increase the Perception of Detection

Fraudsters’ number one concern is getting caught. An anti-fraud culture in which there is regular training, communication, and discussion about fraud makes it clear to the potential thief that he or she will be under surveillance. When fraud does occur, the organization has to act decisively to prosecute, sending the message that the crime will have consequences.

Taking these steps can reduce the risk of occupational fraud. In the long term, the improved channels of communication up and down the organization may also help establish a happier workplace, which is a further barrier to fraud.

 

  Category: Fraud Prevention
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[Slideshow] 18 Fraud Facts to Drive Your 2018 Fraud Prevention Plan

By Lowers & Associates,

Fraud Week comes at a perfect time each year, just before the start of a new year when many organizations take a structured look at their performance over the past months, and begin to prepare for the year ahead. When it comes time to review your fraud risk management and prevention plan, it pays to have some hard statistics in front of you.

Our latest slideshow features 18 facts straight from the ACFE’s bi-annual Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. The report can help you understand and respond to the threat of organizational fraud in your company, and the facts presented can serve as benchmarks for your organization while helping to uncover areas you may have failed to address.

How will you use these facts to create a more effective fraud prevention plan for your company in 2018?

  Category: Fraud Awareness
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16 Fraud Facts to Fuel Your 2016 Prevention Planning

By Lowers & Associates,

fraud week

As we look toward 2016, we thought it might be useful to get a quick big picture on organizational fraud for context. We have been posting about the causal factors driving fraud and urging you to develop an effective risk-based prevention program. Now, here’s the why: 16 facts about fraud drawn from the 2014 ACFE Report to the Nations that should make it relevant to you. … Continue reading