One third of B.C. businesses victims of fraud

One third of B.C. businesses say they’ve been victims of fraud, finds a survey by MNP and the Vancouver Province.

It also finds 27% of the public are also fraud victims. But only 8% of the general public and only 5% of businesses think the risk of fraud is high.

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“We are concerned that so many of the respondents felt that the risk of fraud was low. Clearly there is a disconnect between the realities of fraud and perceptions of it,” says Jackie Davies, partner and B.C. leader of MNP’s investigative and forensic services group.

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“A significant number of frauds are found by tips from whistle blowers and third parties,” said Pat McParland, senior manager of MNP’s investigative and forensics group.

Key findings:

• Males tend to rate the risk of fraud higher than females, likely a reflection of the fact that more males reported being victims of fraud;
• People over 55 were most likely to report being victims of fraud;
• Vancouver reported the lowest number of incidents of fraud in the province.

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Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.