24% of businesses hit by cybercrime

MORE than a quarter of businesses were victims of economic crime last year.

An economic crime survey published by PwC shows 26% of businesses were hit by fraud last year, compared to 34% for our western European counterparts.

The top four economic crimes were asset misappropriation, cybercrime, accounting fraud and money laundering.

Economic crime was a greater distraction for Irish business, where the frequency of crime was much greater than that experienced by companies across western Europe.

For example 14% of organisations in Ireland recorded more than 1,000 crimes in the last year compared with an average of 3% for western Europe.

Cybercrime is now the second biggest risk to businesses, with nearly a quarter (24%) saying they had suffered from this type of crime in the last year.

Over half of the Irish businesses surveyed said they were very much or more at risk now to cybercrime compared to a year ago.

The survey of almost 3,900 businesses, from 80 countries, including 80 Irish organisations, is the most comprehensive study of its kind.

Theft or asset misappropriation, cited by 81%, was the most common type of economic crime reported in Ireland. Nearly one in 10 said they did not know if they suffered a fraud.

Of those hit by economic crime, over a third (38%) reported losses of between €75,000 and €3.75m in the last 12 months, 5% suffered a loss in excess of €3.75m while a further 52% said the cost was below €75,000.

These victims reported significant incidental damage due to the economic crimes suffered, including detrimental impacts on employee morale (33%) brand/ reputation (24%), relations with regulators (19%) and business relations (14%).

Respondents also expect that economic crime will continue in future.

For example, almost a third expect to experience asset misappropriation in the next year with 25% expecting more cybercrime, and 10% expecting more money laundering.

Partner in forensic services at PwC Ireland Billy O’Riordan said the damage strikes firms at their core.

“Our survey highlights that no industry or organisation is immune to fraud. Fraud detection and prevention needs to be part of the DNA of every organisation,” he said.