Markets & Finance

Kenya ranked top in world's fraud incidences

fraud

PricewaterhouseCoopers international chairman Dennis Nally at a past media briefing, July 18, 2011.

Kenya has the highest incidences of fraud in the world, according to a global ranking of 78 countries surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Overall, 66 per cent of organisations in Kenya say they were victims of economic crime over the last 12 months, nearly double the global average of 34 per cent.

“Economic crime is a real concern in Kenya. It is important to focus on preventing these crimes by strengthening our legal and judicial system and improving awareness of mitigation strategies to help organisations deal with crimes after they happen,” said Alphan Njeru, leader of PwC’s regional public sector group.

The incidence average is 57 per cent in Africa. In 2009, Kenya ranked second after South Africa with 57 per cent reported incidence of economic crime.

The results are generated from 4,000 responses from senior executives in the 78 countries with PwC terming this as the most comprehensive survey on economic crime.

Though the survey estimates the loss at Sh10million to an organisation through economic crimes, the direct cost of the crimes is difficult to gauge, it adds

In Kenya, theft or asset misappropriation is cited as the most common type of economic crime, followed by accounting fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Cybercrime originating from Africa is cited as a worrisome trend, and it is ranked as one of the top crimes in Kenya.

“The perception of cybercrime as a predominantly external threat is changing and organizations are now recognizing the risk of of cybercrime coming from inside as well”