David Clarke, Director of the Fraud Advisory Panel and Today Advisory Board Member, was on Radio 5 Live on Tuesday to address the global fraud situation.
In response to KPMG’s Fraud Barometer, which was published this week, David called the statistics “just ‘the tip of the iceberg.’”
“It’s good that we’re seeing these kinds of figures” David continued. “This is the reason why we set up Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau: so that we get a better picture.”
As you quite rightly say, many of these cases are ‘cybercrimes’, but they’re traditional scams. They would have been done over the phone or in a letter years ago – there’s nothing new there. It’s just the tools and the technology [that the fraudsters] are using.
What’s interesting from that report that I think we must pick up on is ‘trust.’”
Research shows that two thirds of the time it’s insiders who commit fraud against businesses. What concerns David is the reports’ mention of “senior leaders” committing fraud to “maintaining [their] lifestyles.”
“They’re making choices to commit fraud against their business and their customers rather than do honest, sensible business.”
David also pointed out that consumers “don’t get off lightly” in the report. Often “suspecting, or even knowing that things are scams.”
The problems that many countries are having with inflation and the huge growth in household debt, has seen a minority of consumers “buying cheap satellite television receivers, buying tooth whitening stuff that you know is a scam – that can even damage your health – to maintain a lifestyle.”
This is a real problem with the moral compass: It needs re-setting.”