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Home | News | Australian IP theft on the increase
Australian IP theft on the increase
Friday, 8 October 2004Intellectual property theft in Australia is on the increase, according to a new survey.
Research by Deloitte Forensic found that intellectual property theft is now the most common form of corporate fraud in the country, followed by theft of common property and employee expenses fraud, The Australian reports.
A massive 82 per cent of the 125 companies and delegates surveyed by Deloitte at a fraud convention admitted experiencing a rise in corporate fraud in the past year. However, 74 per cent of respondents to the survey believed only a quarter of all fraudulent activities were being detected.
Richard Batten, a partner of Deloitte Forensic, said there was a rising incidence of employees downloading customer lists, copying software coding or stealing business plans and taking them to a competitor.
"While it is hard to evaluate actual losses, from our own investigation, one of our financial clients claimed that the stolen confidential information could have resulted in a potential loss of $100 million," he told the newspaper.
Mr Batten added that offenders were often unaware that they could be traced and identified through evidence left on computers, email and phone records and he warned companies that, unless they installed fraud prevention systems, they risked suffering a significant loss in reputation and revenue.
Research by Deloitte Forensic found that intellectual property theft is now the most common form of corporate fraud in the country, followed by theft of common property and employee expenses fraud, The Australian reports.
A massive 82 per cent of the 125 companies and delegates surveyed by Deloitte at a fraud convention admitted experiencing a rise in corporate fraud in the past year. However, 74 per cent of respondents to the survey believed only a quarter of all fraudulent activities were being detected.
Richard Batten, a partner of Deloitte Forensic, said there was a rising incidence of employees downloading customer lists, copying software coding or stealing business plans and taking them to a competitor.
"While it is hard to evaluate actual losses, from our own investigation, one of our financial clients claimed that the stolen confidential information could have resulted in a potential loss of $100 million," he told the newspaper.
Mr Batten added that offenders were often unaware that they could be traced and identified through evidence left on computers, email and phone records and he warned companies that, unless they installed fraud prevention systems, they risked suffering a significant loss in reputation and revenue.