Detection and investigation of white-collar crime

According to a recent study from KPMG a third of all German companies suffered from fraud and white-collar crime in the past two years. Concerning medium and large enterprises every second company suffered from fraud and white-collar crime.

The damage caused by fraud was estimated to be about 80 billion Euros in 2014. Other studies show similar results: a study published in 2015 by Bitkom estimated the damage to be at least 51 billion Euros.

The most frequent offenses were embezzlement, theft, fraud and infidelity. According to Bitkom ony 20% of all fraud is reported to public authorities. Concerning corruption and bribary the estimated number of unreported cases is about 95% according to Transparency International.

The majority of fraudsters are employees of the very company they are defrauding. In most cases implementing preventive measure to avoid fraud would have been less expensive than the damages caused by the fraudsters and the cost of investigation. But according to the studies most companies are willing to invest money in prevention and internal controls.

A few examples of fraudulous actions from our recent investigations:

  • Theft and Embezzlement
  • Fraud and infidelity
  • Kickback payments
  • Collaboration of internal exployees and outsiders
  • Bribary and Corruption
  • Manipultion of data, data theft, destruction of important data
  • Cybersabotage and -espionage
  • Manipulation of Financial Statements and Reporting
  • Forgery of documents
  • Economic subsidy fraud
  • Tax fraud
  • Money laundering
  • Violation of antitrust laws
  • Distortion of competition e.g. using espionage and eavesdroping

The consequences for companies being a victim of white-collar crime and fraud are severe. Besides the financial damage that can severely threaten a companies existence it also oftentimes suffers from bad reputational damages. The financial consequences from a reputational damage are hard to estimate and can cause the company to fail in the long run. Therefore a fast and active intervention is neccessary to minimize and contain the damage. If severe reputational damages are likely, a good emergency plan and a fast crisis management can prevent longterm damages to the reputation

If you suspect fraud or white-collar crime in your company, act immediately! We can help you by investigating the case and help miminzing the damages. Please contact us!