YES. FRAUD is rampant in our country.

The latest 2020 Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey conducted by the PricewaterhouseCoopers’
(PwC) Philippines shows that fraud, bribery, and corruption continue to disrupt the growth of Philippine
businesses. According to the report, 42 percent of the 101 Philippine businesses surveyed experienced
crime and fraud in the last 24 months, with some losses ranging from $100,000 to $50 million.

On an international scale, the Global Economic Crime & Fraud Survey reported that fraud and economic
crime rates in 2020 were at a record high, and the Philippines was not an exception to the rule. Forty-
three percent of businesses said they experienced an average of two to five fraud incidents over the last
two years, while 10 percent said they experienced six to 12 incidents of fraud within the same time
period.

Of the types of incidents that have occurred, asset misappropriation was the most common fraud,
followed by bribery and corruption.

In order to minimize and/or prevent the occurrence of fraud, I would like to quote Aurelio Mari G.
Gueco, Consulting Senior Manager of PwC Philippines, saying “The key here is to invest in people.
Investment in anti-fraud technology and business process improvements is futile if companies do not
invest in training their people. As an anti-fraud consultant, I’ve seen how investment in people’s
awareness about the prevalence of fraud in the workplace and its corresponding financial and
reputational impact have created long-term benefits for organizations.”

People can be the company’s greatest asset or the greatest source of problem. This is why agree to Sir
Gueco that investing in people is essential in order to achieve a fraud-free or fraud-less company. The
first step in achieving so is to educate the employees about the types of frauds, their effects to their
company, and including how to prevent them. If they will be educated by the consequences of fraud, I
think they would realize that it has always been wrong, and it might harm not only their company but
also their work and profession. In order to solidify the firm’s commitment to avoid fraud, they should
also take efficient risk assessment controls to identify the organization’s vulnerabilities to effectively
address the risk. In addition, they should also establish an efficient anti-fraud framework like whistle-
blowing processes to facilitate the reporting of anomalies and fraudulent activities.

The above-mentioned ways to minimize (if not totally eliminate) fraud in the company, is not absolute
as there are other ways on how to effectively address the problem. But I firmly believe that solving the
problem by educating the people is necessary because they are the major players of the organization.