Many businesses around the globe are struggling to find enough skilled workers to fill their needs. Yet there’s one sector that never seems to have a shortage of increasingly talented labor: cybercrime. Plenty of organizations “on the dark side” are attracting more, and more sophisticated, talent.
Statistics from research published by online payment processors, professional fraud mitigation entities and ecommerce platforms show a compelling trend: fraud risk has grown exponentially since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a trend that will continue at an unprecedented pace in 2022.
None of this is surprising to those of us on the front lines of the fight against fraud or anyone in the accounting profession. We see it or hear about it every day: bad actors masterminding fraud schemes that put our firms and our clients at risk.
The reality is that the sheer volume and complexity of these emerging risks have made the stakes extremely high. We’re not talking about a few phishing emails or the possibility of a hack now and then. We must be prepared for a whole new ballgame in 2022.
The 2021 IRS Criminal Investigation annual report shows the agency completed more than 2,500 criminal investigations, including more than $10 billion from tax fraud and financial crimes. These top-tier fraud fighters convicted almost 90 percent of the perpetrators in these cases. They are serious about reducing fraudulent activity, and we need to be, too.
While the world…
