According to a new Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) report, one third of small businesses have experienced one or more fraud attempts in the last 12 months, and one in five have fallen victim. Only 8% of defrauded businesses recovered their full financial costs.
Lost time (84%), negative emotional impacts such as stress (61%) and negative impact on staff morale (29%) were cited as the top non-financial impacts of fraud.
The most common type of fraud causing a loss for small businesses is fraudulent payments. The most common attempted frauds are email scams and phishing, followed by directory fraud, malicious software and phone scams. Businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors are more likely to experience financial losses from fraud, while businesses in the wholesale sector are most likely to experience fraud attempts.
Small businesses spent an average of USD 2,900 on fraud prevention in 2015; however, only three in ten small businesses train their employees to identify fraud.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now