Technology - a means of tackling fraud or an enabler?
31 May 2018
PwC recently published its latest Global Economic Crime Survey, which looks at trends in fraud and economic crime over the past two years. The headline is that over 50% of UK organisations have been victims of fraud over the last two years. The organisations in the technology sector are not immune to fraud, but the survey suggests that fraud is less prevalent, or less well detected, in the sector; only 39% of respondents from the technology sector reported experiencing fraudulent activity.
Digging a little deeper into the numbers poses some interesting questions with regards to technology. One key theme coming out of the survey is that the use of technology to perpetrate fraud is on the rise, with cybercrime accounting for 49% of fraud reported in 2018, compared to 44% in 2016. Clearly this is an area where prevention and detection is highly dependent on technology and it is a significant issue for technology companies; 32% expect that cybercrime will have the most disruptive influence on their business.
It is also clear that more can (and must) be done to use technology to assist in the assessment and prevention of fraud. There is both a challenge and an opportunity for technology companies in this respect.
How can technology be used more effectively in the UK to help prevent and detect fraud?
Whilst people-based detection methods remain essential in fraud detection, in the current UK environment the best fraud detection harnesses the power of both people and technology, balancing effectiveness and cost.
Existing technology tools including suspicious transaction monitoring and data analytics are being used by 70% of respondents to carry out real-time monitoring and to gain actionable insights. However, the survey indicates that the available benefits offered by such technologies are not being fully reflected in detection rates and that the use of more advanced data analytical methods such as predictive analytics, continuous monitoring and machine learning are, in the UK, lagging behind the rest of the world.
Additionally with less than 10% of UK respondents getting value out of these technologies, and a quarter with no plans to use artificial intelligence at all, there is a clear need for more innovation in fraud prevention technology in the UK.
For more information on the results of the Global Economic Crime Survey, in particular the impact on the UK Technology Sector, visit Technology 2.0: Cyber-crime & anti-fraud
