Fraud in Singapore doubled

Incidents of fraud have doubled and the amount involved has gone up to $6.5 m.

Here are the key findings from KPMG's Fraud Survey Report in 2011.  

· More than one in five companies in Singapore is likely to have experienced some kind of fraud since 2008.

· The average number of incidents reported by victims has increased by more than two-fold from 3.8 in 2008, to 9.0 in 2011.

· The total estimated cost of these incidents increased from S$5.3 million to S$6.5 million between 2008 and 2011.

· The top factors contributing to fraud are: unfamiliarity with red flags of fraud (59 percent), weakness in IT security (56 percent) and weakness of management or board oversight (50 percent).

· Employees continued to be responsible for the largest proportion of fraud incidents (47 percent); company management (17 percent).

· Only 31 percent have conducted fraud awareness training for staff or management.

· Only 37 percent had an anti-bribery and corruption compliance programme.

· 62 percent of respondents had no plans to design and implement a fraud incident response plan.