Nine in ten businesses say Covid has made them a target for fraudsters
Almost nine-in-ten businesses believe the pandemic has made them more susceptible to fraud, according to survey from BDO.
More than four-fifths of businesses were victims of fraud last year, while more than a third of companies said levels of fraud increased between and 2020 and 2021.
On average, businesses lost £223,000 to fraud last year, with finance, professional services, and leisure firms the hardest hit.
In a survey of 500 mid-sized firms, 89 per cent said home working had increased the risk of fraud, while more than a quarter (26 per cent) of business owners said they felt their staff’s fraud awareness had dropped during the pandemic, as fraudsters have begun to deploy increasingly sophisticated tactics.
At the same time, 23 per cent of companies surveyed said they do not even have a fraud response plan in place.
Kaley Crossthwaite, head of fraud at BDO, said: “Ongoing disruption wrought by the pandemic – including home working which has added complexity to the process of identifying and defending against cyber-attacks – has magnified the risk for businesses.”