Employment Fraud On The Up

by GD Fri 11 Apr 2008, 6:01 pm

Experts say the threat of employment fraud in Guernsey is now greater than ever.

Modern computer systems have made smart fraudsters even harder to detect with tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds stolen by workers every year.

Employment fraud today has come along way from a simple case of workers having their hand in the till. Sophisticated computer systems may promise security, but those who control them are in a great position of power, able to make tiny, unnoticeable changes to reap huge financial gain. Whether it's fictitious invoices for office supplies or company purchase orders for items that never turn up. Fraudsters are getting smarter and cases in Guernsey are on the up.

Last year the Royal Bank of Scotland International in Guernsey had an employee take nearly three hundred thousand pounds. In the last week a woman was found guilty of taking ten thousand pounds from Natwest, that employee ended up in prison. The States of Guernsey is also dealing in a case at the moment for a similar amount of money.

Carl Ceillam of Ernst & Young's Technology and Security Risk Department said:

"I think things are getting worse I think what we're seeing is perhaps the tip of the iceberg. Certainly the beginning, early signs that things are starting to get worse and that employee fraud is on the increase. The sums of money that are passing through systems are huge. They're much, much bigger than what we've seen in the past and there are so many different angles where those transactions and funds can be subverted, diverted and there's just much, much more opportunity."

So why are workers seemingly becoming less honest?
The dawn of the business computer has brought with it new opportunities for fraud, but influences outside of the workplace are making their impact too. Debts from unmanageable mortgages, cheap loans and credit cards have all played their part in driving workers to crime.

Carl Ceillam:
"A common motivator for fraud is when people are in financial difficulty and they often attempt fraud as a way of paying off debts. Employees can do credit checks, police record checks and so on, and that's one way they can get an early warning that perhaps something's wrong (from CITV)

Surely if the system was "tight" fraud would not be that easy to commit