Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on November 15, 2021
4 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
Deloitte's Middle East Fraud Survey reveals increased fraud incidents, highlighting technology and remote work as key risk factors.
Almost half of respondents witnessed more fraudulent incidents than in previous years
Deloitte has just launched the Middle East Fraud Survey report, illustrating how organisations across the region have been affected by fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 100 anonymous respondents from a wide spectrum of industries in both the public and private sector participated in the digital questionnaire. The Deloitte survey explores the extent and various types of fraud, the impact of the global pandemic on fraud risks due to changes in the business environment and measures being taken to prevent, detect and respond to fraud.
“When the findings were compared to a similar survey conducted by Deloitte Middle East in 2010, there has been a change in the most prevalent types of fraud over the last decade. Theft of physical assets and misuse of information were the most pressing concerns in 2010 compared to the threat of new age technology fraud such as cyber-crime and financial misreporting today. More than two-thirds of the respondents felt that the current business and economic disruptions could increase fraud risk in their organisations over the next two years,” said Collin Keeney, Partner, Financial Advisory, Deloitte Middle East.
Key report highlights:
Keeney commented, “Having the benefit of a 10-year comparison, we have identified insightful observations on fraud risk maturity trends. What we can see is a broad increase in the baseline readiness of organisations in the region. Significantly more organisations report having put in place the key components such as developing fraud management policies, whistleblower hotlines, and conducting fraud risk assessments. However, quite a number of respondents report a certain ambivalence in the effectiveness of these baseline efforts.”
“Contrast this with the satisfaction reported by organisations who have made investments into vanguard areas like anti-fraud technology and you reach a key take-away: the efficacy of baseline efforts is negligible if they are only done on paper and not followed up with further action. The real effectiveness gains are experienced when the organisation moves beyond the paper, into detailed controls testing, revision and enhancement of controls, follow-up with audits and then into more proactive, ongoing monitoring of fraud risks.”
To download the full report, please click here.
The article discusses Deloitte's latest Middle East Fraud Survey and its findings on increased fraud incidents and risk factors.
COVID-19 has increased fraud risks due to changes in the business environment, with 35% of respondents noting an increase since the pandemic.
Dependency on technology and remote working are identified as top factors contributing to increased fraud risk.
Explore more articles in the Business category
