Debriefing

The Fraud Index

It's a Living

By Scott Berinato

September 01, 2004 — CSO — Percentage of annual revenue a typical company loses to occupational fraud 6%

Estimated size in 2003 of the U.S. floral industry $19 billion

Estimated size in 2003 of the U.S. biotech industry $200 billion

Using the 2003 Gross Domestic Product, estimated size in 2004 of the "fraud industry" $660 billion

Percentage growth of the fraud industry since 2002 10%

According to the Uniform Occupational Fraud Classification System, the number of categories of fraud 3

Approximate number of different fraud schemes within those three categories 56

Number of different methods of "skimming" 8

Percentage of fraud cases in 2004 that exceeded $1 million and were discovered "by accident" 18%

Median loss from fraud of organizations with anonymous reporting mechanisms $56,500

Median loss from fraud of organizations without anonymous reporting mechanisms $135,500

Of the three most common antifraud techniques used, rank of anonymous reporting mechanisms Third

Percentage of fraud cases not reported to law enforcement in 2002 and 2004, respectively 24.6%, 31.1%

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, the number of arrests for fraud in 1999 225,934

Average time spent in state prison for first fraud conviction in 1999 1.58 years

Average time for second conviction 1.16 years

The total amount in bad checks passed by former grifter Frank Abagnale $2.5 million

Approximate gross of Catch Me If You Can, a movie about Abagnale's life as a con artist $165 million

Sales rank of the Catch Me If You Can DVD (widescreen edition) on Amazon.com as of 7/26/04 1,359

Sales rank of Abagnale's book Catch Me If You Can, on which the movie was based 4,768

Sales rank of Abagnale's new book The Art of the Steal 2,438

Other projects conceived for Catch Me If You Can TV Series, Broadway musical

Other stories by Scott Berinato

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