The Home Office has published its findings from the 2020 Economic Crime Survey. It surveyed businesses in selected sectors and found that around 1 in 5 businesses had been a victim of fraud in the 3 years running up to the survey, and that almost half of them had experienced more than one incident. Debit or credit card fraud accounted for nearly half the frauds reported, followed by online banking fraud and procurement fraud. Offences often occurred remotely, with the victims unable to identify the perpetrator. Over one quarter of reports noted impersonation as a factor. Corruption incidents on the other hand more often happened in person or over the phone. The survey also found that nearly all businesses had in place measures to protect against fraud and corruption, but only 30% had an anti-fraud policy and only 25% an anti-corruption policy.
