CHAPTER 9Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia

REGIONAL FRAUD TRENDS

The 2018 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) includes 86 cases from Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia that were investigated between January 2016 and October 2017. These cases caused a median loss of US $150,000 per case.

As noted in Exhibit 9.1, corruption is the most common form of occupational fraud committed in Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia; 60% of the cases analyzed involved some form of corruption, which is twice as frequent as any other type of fraud scheme. Theft of noncash assets is the second most common category of occupational fraud, occurring in 30% of the cases in the region. In addition, fraud schemes in Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia are twice as likely to be detected by a tip as by any other means (see Exhibit 9.2).

Bar graph shows corruption, noncash, billing, expense reimbursements, cash larceny, financial statement fraud, cash on hand, check and payment tampering, skimming, register disbursements, and payroll where corruption is highest at 60 percent and payroll is lowest at 2 percent.

Exhibit 9.1 Scheme Types – Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia

Bar graph shows tip, internal audit, management review, by accident, other, account reconciliation, surveillance/monitoring, IT controls, notification by law enforcement, external audit, and document examination where tip is highest at 40 percent.

Exhibit 9.2 Initial Detection Method – Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia

The 2018 Report to the Nations also examines the anti-fraud controls that were present at victim organizations at the ...

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