Russia remains the country with the highest economic crime rate, a newly released survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows.
PWC’s Global Economic Crime survey, which aims to provide a comprehensive picture on how businesses are being affected by economic crime, incorporates responses from 3,877 directors and senior executives in 78 countries, including 126 at Russian companies.
Highlights of this year’s report by PWC focused particularly on cybercrime and fraud, which were the main contributors to the 13% increase in economic crime since 2009, as well as a cybercrime becoming one of the top four threats to organizations following an increase in the reliance on the internet and other technologies.
In the last year, over a third of businesses in Russia became victims of economic crime, which is higher than the world average of 34%. The most common economic crime encountered in Russia remains misappropriation of assets (72%). As for losses, 22% of the Russian organizations who had encountered fraud reported a loss of $5 million.
Bribery and corruption, faced by 40% of respondents last year, remain major problems in the Russian market. According to 13% of Russian respondents, the risks associated with corruption left them unable to enter a new market or embrace new commercial opportunities.
The survey suggests the need to conduct regular fraud risk assessments and ensure a cyber risk-aware management, but over half of the survey’s respondents predict that economic crime will only increase in the future.
The survey concluded that “Despite the effectiveness of risk management systems being deployed, there are always individuals or groups of individuals who are able to spot an opportunity and circumvent or override controls. This is especially true when it comes to cyber security. As headcounts fall in control functions across the globe, we fear more fraud will go undetected.”