72% of Banks Say Their Employees Committed Fraud

yahoi writes "The financial crisis appears to be exacerbating fraud by bank employees: a new survey found that 72 percent of financial institutions say that in the last 12 months they have experienced a case of data theft by one of their workers. Meanwhile, most banks don't want to talk about the insider threat problem and remain in denial, says a former Wachovia Bank executive who handled insider fraud incidents at the bank and has co-authored a new book called Insidious — How Trusted Employees Steal Millions and Why It's So Hard for Banks to Stop Them that investigates several real-world insider fraud cases at banks." The article dispels one assumption that might commonly be made about such insider fraud: "Interestingly, it's not the stereotypical offshore or outsourced employee who's most risky to their organizations. Nearly 70 percent of financial institutions say their full-time employees are most likely to pose an insider fraud threat..." Technology workers placed third in the roster of the job categories most abused.

Comments

Outsourcing [Re:Suprise! NOT!]

[Tablizer]

Banks, which handle lots of money and are generally unwilling to pay for honest talented staff...

I imagine that outsourcing to 3rd-world countries increases the risk because the payoff is much higher relative to the local currency (more purchasing power) and it's much more difficult to prosecute across the ocean.

This is not saying that 3rd-world employees are "more evil", but rather the relative temptation is higher and the risks of formal prosecution is lower.