• The Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania data specific to our country shows that companies with turnovers of tens and hundreds of millions of Euros end up being defrauded with up to hundreds of thousands and millions or even tens of millions of Euros.

• What's more, statistics from the international anti-fraud association show that 98% of companies have been defrauded in the last 2 years from the inside.

Bucharest, October 11, 2022 - Private corruption, theft of goods and money from company assets and "large-scale" fraud, involving fraud schemes specific to warehouses and production halls are the most common forms of occupational fraud or internal fraud to which Romanian companies are exposed, according to Corporate Intelligence Agency (Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania), a company specialized in risk management and corporate investigations.

Internal or occupational fraud, i.e. fraud perpetrated from within a company by an employee, often in a coordinating position, is still considered taboo in Romania, even though it is one of the biggest risks for a company.

It is a risk that increases in proportion to the size of the company, as well as the importance of the function and the degree of expertise of a potential employee willing to defraud the company they work for.

"Almost all corporate fraud starts with a conflict of interest. And the conflict of interest arises when companies do not regularly and carefully update internal rules, confidentiality undertakings and other specific documents required between employee and employer." explains Gabriel Zgunea, CEO of Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania. 

And to identify vulnerabilities within their own organization in a timely manner, companies need to conduct a risk analysis.

"As a result of these risk analyses conducted at various companies, we have identified several internal or occupational fraud trends, depending on the size of the organization and the company's line of business." adds Gabriel Zgunea.

According to data analyzed by the Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania, companies in our country face 11 types of fraudulent "schemes".

"It is important to understand that the risk of fraud exists in any country and in any company. The Romanian case is neither above nor below the situation in other countries. Internal fraud is widespread and those companies that want to eliminate it from their organizations can turn to us and we can help, explains the CEO of Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania.

The average loss incurred by a company as a result of one type of internal fraud amounts to more than €190,000 per case, a not inconsiderable sum for any type of business, according to a 2022 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 

From this point of view, the situation in Romania is similar to that in other Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic or Croatia. The same trends can be seen as dominant in the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine or Russia.

While in Romania, private corruption accounts for around 60% of all forms of internal fraud within a company, in Western Europe, the percentage drops to 40% and the average loss incurred by a company as a result of internal fraud drops to 170,000 Euro per case, according to the ACFE report.

The Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania data specific to our country shows that companies with turnovers of tens and hundreds of millions of Euros end up being defrauded with up to hundreds of thousands and millions or even tens of millions of Euros.

What's more, statistics from the international anti-fraud association show that 98% of companies have been defrauded in the last 2 years from the inside.

Very often organizations turn to Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania to support them in disciplinary investigations of employees suspected of fraud.

The advantage of the Corporate Intelligence Agency is that according to the legislation in force to which it is subject, the risk management and corporate investigation company can investigate an employee for up to 14 days without informing the employee that he or she is under investigation, during which time the Corporate Intelligence Agency can gather the necessary evidence of fraud.

Alternatively, an employer is obliged by law to inform the suspected employee from the outset that he or she is under investigation, in which case the employee usually manages to evade illegal activities knowing that he or she is already being pursued.

"Once specific risks have been identified, companies can customize specific internal fraud prevention or rapid response procedures, processes and mechanisms to meet their needs in the event of a fraud incident." says Gabriel Zgunea. 

"Good security is better than bad", says an old local proverb, and Romanian companies are becoming increasingly interested in improving their risk management and compliance systems.  

The costs of preventing fraud incidents are incomparably lower than post-factum costs.

About Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania:

Corporate Intelligence Agency (Corporate Intelligence Agency Romania) is a company specialized in risk management and corporate investigations, whose mission is to protect and secure the business interests of its clients. The company offers applied intelligence solutions, competitive intelligence, specific trainings and risk management, having as partners organizations and corporations in the fields of: retail, banking, investment, energy, FMCG, pharma, industry, telecom, technology, business law.