Technology Dominates Texas-Based Group’s Fraud Predictions for 2015

Technology will give fraudsters an edge in 2015, but it will also provide new tools for organizations and investigators, according to three experts from the Austin, Texas-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) who were asked for their top fraud predictions for 2015.

The experts weighed in on digital currencies, information security and other issues that will help shape the effort to prevent and detect fraud next year:

Other potential fraud trends include:

A re-emergence of financial statement fraud. While Enron, WorldCom and other major financial statement frauds are starting to fade from the public consciousness, there may be more such accounting frauds on the way, according to Zack. One indication is the effort being made by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to step up enforcement in this area.

Credit card security features will continue to evolve. This prediction comes from the ACFE’s 2015 Fraud Examiners Manual: “As the United States migrates to smart cards, several variations will exist until a single standard is adopted. As most merchants are not yet equipped to accept smart cards, many credit card users carry hybrid cards that include both a microchip and a magnetic stripe. Moreover, these cards may or may not require a PIN to complete a transaction. Embossed credit cards are slowly being supplanted by smooth credit cards in order to prevent physical card imprints. Additionally, local bank branches are able to produce unembossed debit cards within minutes, which eliminates the need to send cards through the mail.”

Source: ACFE