CRI® Group celebrate 2018 International Fraud Awareness Week

CRI® Group is once again a proud supporter of International Fraud Awareness Week, Nov. 11-17, 2018. This global movement aims to minimise the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education. Companies lose an estimated 5% of their revenue annually due to fraud (ACFE Report to the Nations, 2018) and additional training, prevention programs and best practices are needed to help bring that number down.

A few more “Fraud Facts” help illustrate some statistics in the fight against fraud and corruption (Source: ACFE Report to the Nations, 2018).

• The average fraud lasts 16 months before it is discovered. The longer a fraud lasts, the greater the financial damage (schemes that last for several years can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars).
• In a recent study of fraud cases, the median loss was $130,000. 22% of cases caused losses of $1 million or more.
• The most common detection method for fraud is tips. And organisations that have reporting hotlines are much more likely to detect fraud through tips than organisations without hotlines.

Zafar Anjum, founder and CEO of CRI® Group, said that International Fraud Awareness Week (called Fraud Week, for short) is an important effort to put a spotlight on fraud and help educate people about its perils.

“CRI® Group has been a proud supporter of Fraud Week for past years”, Anjum said. “It’s an important time to urge organisations of all shapes and sizes to conduct proper due diligence and minimise risk. Only by addressing fraud and corruption proactively can we make progress in preventing and detecting it”.

For CRI® Group, though, helping organisations prevent and detect fraud is a year-round commitment. That’s why Fraud Week is a great time to reflect on CRI® Group’s recent efforts in the fight against fraud and to also look ahead to activities on the near horizon.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

Launched Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption Centre of Excellence (ABAC®)

At CRI® Group, we recognised the need for an independent certification body for ISO 37001: Anti-Bribery Management System. That’s why we founded the ABAC® Center of Excellence – to assist business organisations worldwide in certification for anti-corruption, risk management and compliance. By providing training and certification for ISO 37001, our experts help organisations implement effective anti-bribery management programs using widely accepted controls, systems and best practices in line with local and international legislation.

Hosted ABAC® Summits to help fight corruption

With ABAC® in place, we found that business leaders were eager to learn more about preventing bribery and fighting corruption. The perfect solution was to create and host an ABAC® Summit to gather legal, compliance and risk management experts together in one place to share best practices, demonstrate resources and discuss the latest technology for preventing corruption. The first ABAC® Summit was held last year in Pakistan, and this year’s Summit was hosted in Malaysia – both were an incredible success! Next, the Summit will return to Pakistan (29th January 2019).

Spread knowledge

CRI® Group participated in conferences and educated professionals on fraud and corruption across six locations in four continents. Additionally, our experts discussed ISO 37001 and other anti-bribery management solutions with more than 1,000 professionals around the world. “CRI® Group is comprised of subject-specific experts with diversified speciality areas,” Anjum said. “Our audit team has years of substantive field experience as investigators, compliance officers and legal professionals.”

Engaged in training to enhance expertise

CRI® Group’s audit team has undergone more than 140 hours in continuing ABAC® training. The methods for committing fraud and corruption are ever-evolving, so our agents remain dedicated to their building their skill sets and staying on the cutting edge to help clients be successful in preventing and detecting fraud.

Achieved accreditations for ISO 37001

CRI® Group earned official accreditation from Emirates International Accreditation Center – EIAC (UAE) to administer training and certification for ISO 37001 ABMS. “EIAC provides objective evidence that organisations operate at the highest level of ethical, legal and technical standards,” said Zafar Anjum, founder and CEO of CRI® Group. “That’s exactly where ISO 37001 fits in – helping to protect organisations from bribery and money laundering.”

Raised fraud awareness

CRI® Group has produced more than 50 educational news articles and publications to help educate business leaders, government leaders, professionals and the public about fraud and corruption. Our subject matter experts deliver important information, such as why forensic accounting can be important during a fraud investigation or how risk assessments can be used to better protect your organisation. Our content is created to inform and provide important information that might be missed in today’s news cycles.

Found fraud

Through various client engagements, CRI® Groups investigative analysts found a large number of red flags indicating possible fraud. How many? The answer may be surprising: our agents discovered more than 700 red flags across 80 countries. The first step in fighting fraud is knowing that it exists. The sooner it is discovered, the less damage a fraud scheme can do to an organisation.

During Fraud Week, think about the statistics at the beginning of this article … and ask yourself or your colleagues: Are we doing all we can to prevent fraud? Remember, the landscape is always changing, and fraudsters will do everything they can to use evolving technology and other methods to find vulnerabilities. Moreover, the best way to fight fraud is to prevent it in the first place.

CRI® Group is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our ABAC® training and certification opportunities, our EmploySmart background checking process, our investigative services and other offerings.

About the International Fraud Awareness Week

CRI® Group is once again a proud supporter of 2021’s International Fraud Awareness Week. Taking place throughout the week of November 14th to November 20th of 2021, International Fraud Awareness Week is a global effort is a move to diminish the influence of fraud by advocating for anti-fraud awareness and education. According to the 2021 ACFE Report to the Nations, organisations continue to lose about 5% of revenue to fraud each year and currently, there are more than 3.3 billion people in the global workforce with all of them having access to or control over some portion of their employer’s cash or assets – an amount which contributes to such a loss.

Corresponding to the most recent ACFE report, other fraud trends which have remained constant throughout the last few years include:

• Asset misappropriation is the most identified scheme
• Tips are the greatest process of exposure
• The lengthier that fraud goes unbridled, the greater the median loss

Zafar Anjum, founder, and CEO of CRI® Group said that International Fraud Awareness Week (called Fraud Week, for short) is a crucial endeavour drawing attention to fraud and aiding to support better education towards communities about the liabilities that accompany fraud. “CRI® Group has been a proud supporter of Fraud Week for past years”, Anjum said. “It’s an important time to urge organisations of all shapes and sizes to conduct proper due diligence and minimise risk. Only by addressing fraud and corruption proactively can we make progress in preventing and detecting it”.

For CRI® Group, though, assisting organisations with the deterrence and detection of fraud is a year-round responsibility which is why Fraud Week is a wonderful occasion to acknowledge CRI® Group’s contemporary exertions in the bout alongside fraud; it is also a wonderful time to look ahead on CRI® Group’s activities which are all nearing their time of action.

Who is CRI® Group?

Based in London, CRI® Group works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management, Employee Background Screening, Business Intelligence, Due Diligence, Compliance Solutions and other professional Investigative Research solutions provider. We have the largest proprietary network of background-screening analysts and investigators across the Middle East and Asia. Our global presence ensures that no matter how international your operations are, we have the network needed to provide you with all you need, wherever you happen to be. CRI® Group also holds BS 102000:2013 and BS 7858:2012 Certifications, is an HRO certified provider and partner with Oracle.

In 2016, CRI® Group launched the Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC®) Center of Excellence – an independent certification body established for ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems, ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems and ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management, providing training and certification. ABAC® operates through its global network of certified ethics and compliance professionals, qualified auditors and other certified professionals. As a result, CRI® Group’s global team of certified fraud examiners work as a discreet white-labelled supplier to some of the world’s largest organisations. Contact ABAC® for more on ISO Certification and training.