The pandemic has opened a Pandora’s box of global fraud. Faced with a seemingly endless onslaught of schemes and scams, anti-fraud pros have doubled down on analytics, finds the latest anti-fraud technology study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and SAS.
Based on survey responses from nearly 900 ACFE members worldwide, the 2022 Anti-Fraud Technology Benchmarking Report illuminates how organisations across sectors are using technology to fight fraud. Notably:
- More than 40 per cent of respondents reported accelerating their use of data analytics significantly (14 per cent) or slightly (29 per cent) amid the pandemic.
- The majority (60 per cent) expect their anti-fraud tech budgets to grow over the next two years.
- Advanced analytics topped the investment list, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (cited by 26% of respondents) followed by predictive analytics/modelling (22 per cent).
“Navigating the pandemic-forged business landscape, we’ve seen increased reports of fraud – a trend we don’t expect to slow any time soon,” said Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, President and CEO of the ACFE. “To stay ahead of not only the increased volume of fraud instances, but also emerging trends, it’s critical for organisations to be flexible and proactive in adopting new anti-fraud tools and processes. This report serves as a valuable resource for anti-fraud professionals to learn what types of technology their peers are using, or plan to use, and how these technologies have impacted the success of their fraud prevention and detection initiatives.”
Exploring the data by industry, region and more
The 2022 report is the result of a biennial, global research initiative launched by the ACFE and SAS in 2019. Complementing this second edition of the report, SAS’ online dashboard offers data visualisation tools that enable users to examine findings by industry, geographic region and company size. Survey respondents represent 23 industries – most prevalently government and public administration (22 per cent) and banking and financial services (20 per cent). Their employer organisations, ranging in size from less than 100 employees to more than 10,000, are located throughout the world.
Among the other cross-industry takeaways to explore:
- Analytics is an indispensable fraud detection tool. When asked about their use of analytics, nearly all survey participants indicated their organisation’s use of data analytics was beneficial in helping them boost the volume of transactions reviewed or suspected fraud cases identified (99 per cent); the timeliness of their anomaly detection (98 per cent); their efficiency in automating time-consuming tasks (98 per cent); and their overall accuracy in reducing false-positive rates (97 per cent).
- Data-sharing consortiums are gaining momentum. Internal structured data sources remain the crux of most organisations’ anti-fraud analytics initiatives (cited by 80 per cent of respondents), but many are also tapping a variety of external data sources, including public records (41 per cent), law enforcement or government watch lists (31 per cent), social media (29 per cent), other third-party data (25 per cent), and data from connected devices (25 per cent). Moreover, 34 per cent of respondents reported they contribute to data-sharing consortiums – and another 24 per cent indicated that, while they do not currently contribute, they would be willing to do so in the future.
- Organisations are using a variety of emerging technologies to fight fraud. The report highlights the growing use of technologies like physical and behavioural biometrics, computer vision analysis, robotic process automation (RPA), blockchain, and virtual and augmented reality. Current use of these technologies ranges from 7 per cent (virtual/augmented reality) to 34 per cent (physical biometrics) of surveyed organisations. Among respondents from organisations not using a particular emerging technology, 13 per cent (virtual/augmented reality) to 19 per cent (RPA) expect to deploy it within the next one to two years.
“Resoundingly, the anti-fraud professionals surveyed said analytic technologies are helping them identify more fraud more quickly and accurately,” said study co-author Andi McNeal, CFE, CPA, Director of Research at the ACFE. “Time-tested techniques like exception reporting and anomaly detection remain mainstays, yet growing tech budgets and the 150 per cent leap in AI adoption anticipated over the next two years signal that organisations aren’t resting on their laurels. The landscape could look quite different when we resurvey in 2023.”
“Even as proliferating online and digital channels have heightened risks and created lucrative new avenues for criminal exploitation, there’s a silver lining,” said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Fraud and Security Intelligence at SAS. “These channels allow organisations to capture droves of data that can be integrated to better monitor trends and, ultimately, take a more preventive stance against rapidly shifting threats.”
