As the economy tightens, overall criminal activities increase dramatically. This includes every type of crime from theft & embezzlement to workplace violence and corporate espionage. The American Bankruptcy Institute reports that consumer bankruptcy filings rose to 1.06 million in 2008, compared with 801,840 during 2007 & that trend will be far higher in 2009.
More and more, individuals are facing increased financial pressures; which leads to a sharp spike in all areas of crime and litigious behavior. As individuals struggle with foreclosures, layoffs, rising expenses, increasing medical costs, and more interpersonal stress, these factors increase the chance that employees will steal from employers, or leave the company taking company assets or other sensitive information with them. Expect IP theft and identity theft to reach record highs in the coming year, and take additional precautions to protect your business’ most valuable assets.
Businesses both large & small are heading into bankruptcy in record numbers: 28,322 businesses filed in 2008 and over 29,960 in the first three quarters of 2008 (according to the American Bankruptcy Institute), with no signs of slowing down in the near future. So it’s not surprising to see theft & litigious activity sky-rocketing. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that employee theft costs businesses $40 billion dollars each year. This total is ten times the value of street crime losses annually in the USA. The US banking industry reports losses of well over $1billion annually which is well above the combined losses due to bank robberies. American businesses lose an estimated 5 percent of annual revenues to fraud resulting in staggering losses of around $638 billion (based on research by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners).
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