from DION HENRICK in Cape Town
Western Cape Bureau
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – FRAUD has been the most frequently recorded type of financial crime in South Africa, accounting for 26 percent.
This is according to an analysis by LSEG Risk Intelligence.
The research has been presented at the inaugural LSEG Risk Revealed event, held in Cape Town.
The event brought together officials, organisations and opinion formers focusing on key risk and compliance themes including South Africa on the Financial Action Task Force grey list, the complexity of sanctions and the evolution of digital fraud.
The research showed control or regulation violations and theft and embezzlement took second and third spots with 13 percent and 12 percent respectively.
Across the continent, South Africa was second for overall recorded fraud volume with 5 114 records globally – 0,94 percent to Nigeria’s 12 038 at 2,21 percent.
South Africa follows the global trend of fraud becoming the dominant form of financial crime.
According to a World-Check analysis of 545 000 fraud records across 224 countries, fraud accounted for 37,3 percent of reports followed by control or regulation violations at 12 percent.
The United States had the most reported fraud with just over a quarter (26 percent) of the global total, followed by India at 11 percent and China at 8 percent.
Ruth Helena Alves da Mota, Content Partnership Manager at LSEG Risk Intelligence, commented: “Fraud is becoming the lynchpin of the entire global financial crime ecosystem and South Africa hasn’t escaped this global phenomenon.”
In 2019, the Financial Intelligence Centre established the South African Anti Money Laundering Integrated Task Force (SAMLIT) to combat these crimes.
“In addition, the public-private partnership conducts research through expert working groups to improve the detection and reporting of serious financial crime in South Africa,” said Kishor Harri, Manager of Monitoring and Analysis at the Financial Intelligence Centre.
– CAJ News