Asset misappropriation fraud continues to be the most disruptive to Philippine businesses, results of the PwC Philippines’ bi-annual survey of business crime showed.
The report stressed that at least 26 percent or one out of four businesses have experienced this since 2018.
Bribery and corruption is the second most disruptive economic crime in the Philippines, picking up again over the last 24 months and up three notches from fifth last year to 21 percent in 2019, from 18 percent in 2018, and 25 percent in 2016.
Another 14 percent of respondents–from 12 percent in 2018 and 17 percent in 2016–have also alleged that they have lost a business opportunity from a competitor who paid bribes.
One hundred and one Philippine businesses participated in the Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey, which examines over 5,000 responses from 99 countries.
It reports on the overall insights from companies that have experienced on average six incidents over the last two years.
The Philippine Report highlights the importance of prevention yet acknowledges that fraud risks may not be 100 percent eliminated in every organization.
Thus, the following are critical areas that businesses must regularly look into to anticipate fraud and be ready to respond: make sense of your data, identify opportunities to defraud, upskill people with technology, and react effectively.
The study also revealed that external perpetrators of economic crime and fraud may have contributed significantly to a staggering loss of $5 million to $50 million.
Over the course of the last 24 months, the number of fraud incidents that involve external actors (with or without help from internal actors) have increased to 50 percent as compared to 20 percent in 2018.
