Fraud Trends: 2016 Recap and 2017 Projections



By:  Dorothy Riggs, CFE

Fraud activity is ever increasing and diverse in the methods in which it is executed.  Several really interesting fraud cases came to light in 2016.  Some of the top headlines included a designer handbag scam, BEC (Business Email Compromises), EAC (Email Account Compromises), romance schemes, card data breaches and hacking. As you can tell from these articles, any industry or aspect of life can be affected by trickery and deceit…fashion & beauty, romantic relationships, meals, daily business and even a country’s presidential election.
  The following diagram shows the most common types of fraud occurring in 2016.
2016 Fraud Activity




2017 Fraud Projections

I predict that 2017 will be equally as interesting in the world of fraud, if not more so.  With the New Year rolling in we can always expect crooks to file fraudulent U.S. state and federal tax returns, so be on the look-out for that and file your taxes as quickly as possible in an effort to beat the fraudsters to the punch.  Another thing to anticipate is increased fraud numbers related to online sales.  The use of chip or EMV enabled cards makes it more difficult for criminals to steal card data and create counterfeit cards, so they will turn to other avenues of stealing and using stolen card information. Of course romance scams will still cause heartbreak for victims in 2017, so be careful and make certain that you don’t become one of the lovelorn.  BEC and EAC incidents have proven to be quite lucrative with minimal effort, so we will continue to see this type of fraud also.

Be sure to subscribe to fraudsense at fraudsense.blogspot.com to read articles about the latest fraud trends and victim resources.

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