Fraud against businesses both online and offline: crime scripts, business characteristics, efforts, and benefits

Marianne Junger; Victoria Wang; Marleen Schlomer

doi:10.1186/s40163-020-00119-4

Fraud against businesses both online and offline: crime scripts, business characteristics, efforts, and benefits

Marianne Junger^*, Victoria Wang, Marleen Schlomer

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

University of Twente

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Abstract

This study analyses 300 cases of fraudulent activities against Dutch businesses, 100 from each of the following three categories: CEO-fraud, fraudulent contract, and ghost invoice. We examine crime scripts, key characteristics of targeted businesses, and the relationship between input criminal effort and output financial benefit. Results indicate that whilst all CEO-frauds are conducted online, most of the fraudulent contracts and ghost invoices are undertaken via offline means. Both Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Model are evidenced – fraudsters clearly take business size and seasonality into account, and the input criminal effort and output criminal benefit are positively correlated. Having vigilant employees is evidenced as the most effective way of fraud prevention, both online and offline.

Original language	English
Article number	13
Number of pages	15
Journal	Crime Science
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s40163-020-00119-4
Publication status	Published - 9 Jul 2020

Keywords

CEO fraud
fraudulent contract
ghost invoice
Routine Activity Theory
Rational Choice Model
preventative measures

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1186/s40163-020-00119-4

Fraud against businesses both online and offlineFinal published version, 1.09 MBLicence: CC BY

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abstract = "This study analyses 300 cases of fraudulent activities against Dutch businesses, 100 from each of the following three categories: CEO-fraud, fraudulent contract, and ghost invoice. We examine crime scripts, key characteristics of targeted businesses, and the relationship between input criminal effort and output financial benefit. Results indicate that whilst all CEO-frauds are conducted online, most of the fraudulent contracts and ghost invoices are undertaken via offline means. Both Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Model are evidenced – fraudsters clearly take business size and seasonality into account, and the input criminal effort and output criminal benefit are positively correlated. Having vigilant employees is evidenced as the most effective way of fraud prevention, both online and offline. ",

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AU - Junger, Marianne

AU - Wang, Victoria

AU - Schlomer , Marleen

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N2 - This study analyses 300 cases of fraudulent activities against Dutch businesses, 100 from each of the following three categories: CEO-fraud, fraudulent contract, and ghost invoice. We examine crime scripts, key characteristics of targeted businesses, and the relationship between input criminal effort and output financial benefit. Results indicate that whilst all CEO-frauds are conducted online, most of the fraudulent contracts and ghost invoices are undertaken via offline means. Both Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Model are evidenced – fraudsters clearly take business size and seasonality into account, and the input criminal effort and output criminal benefit are positively correlated. Having vigilant employees is evidenced as the most effective way of fraud prevention, both online and offline.

AB - This study analyses 300 cases of fraudulent activities against Dutch businesses, 100 from each of the following three categories: CEO-fraud, fraudulent contract, and ghost invoice. We examine crime scripts, key characteristics of targeted businesses, and the relationship between input criminal effort and output financial benefit. Results indicate that whilst all CEO-frauds are conducted online, most of the fraudulent contracts and ghost invoices are undertaken via offline means. Both Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Model are evidenced – fraudsters clearly take business size and seasonality into account, and the input criminal effort and output criminal benefit are positively correlated. Having vigilant employees is evidenced as the most effective way of fraud prevention, both online and offline.

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KW - fraudulent contract

KW - ghost invoice

KW - Routine Activity Theory

KW - Rational Choice Model

KW - preventative measures

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VL - 9

JO - Crime Science

JF - Crime Science

M1 - 13

ER -

Fraud against businesses both online and offline: crime scripts, business characteristics, efforts, and benefits

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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