CHAPTER 10Latin America and the Caribbean

REGIONAL FRAUD TRENDS

The 2018 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) includes 110 cases from Latin America and the Caribbean that were investigated between January 2016 and October 2017. These cases caused a median loss of US $193,000 per case.

As noted in Exhibit 10.1, corruption is the most common form of occupational fraud committed in Latin America and the Caribbean; 51% of the cases analyzed involved some form of corruption, which is more than 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 22% of the cases in the region. In addition, almost half of the fraud schemes in Latin America and the Caribbean are detected by a tip, making this the most likely method of detection by far (see Exhibit 10.2).

Bar graph shows corruption, noncash, cash on hand, financial statement fraud, skimming, cash larceny, billing, payroll, check and payment tampering, register disbursements, and expense reimbursements where corruption is highest at 51 percent and expense reimbursements is lowest at 1 percent.

Exhibit 10.1 Scheme Types – Latin America and the Caribbean

Bar graph shows tip, internal audit, management review, surveillance/monitoring, other, external audit, account reconciliation, by accident, document examination, confession, and IT controls where tip is highest at 49 percent and IT controls is lowest at 1 percent.

Exhibit 10.2 Initial Detection Method – Latin America and the Caribbean

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

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