Fraud costs Turkey some $40 billion

ISTANBUL

Calculations suggest that the projected costs of fraud for Turkey is approximately $40 billion, according to Fikret Sebilcioğlu, an executive board member of Ethics and Reputation Society (TEİD).

“Fraud is a global problem. There are millions of business and government organizations operating throughout the world and every one of them, in some way, is vulnerable or potentially vulnerable to fraud committed by their employees,” he said.

Organizations worldwide lose an estimated 5 percent of their annual revenues to fraud, Sebilcioğlu added, citing a 2018 report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.

“To place this estimate in context, if the 5 percent loss estimate were applied to the 2017 estimated Gross World Product of $79.6 trillion, it would result in a projected total global fraud loss of nearly $4 trillion.”

Based on this estimate, the projected costs of fraud for Turkey is approximately $40 billion, according to Sebilcioğlu.

“That means each Turkish citizen pays some $500 (2,700 Turkish Liras) for fraud losses every year.”

TEİD was the official supporting organization of the 2018 International Fraud Awareness Week, which took place this year between Nov. 11-17.

Fraud Awareness Week, which promotes transparency and integrity about fraud, was first organized 18 years ago by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education.

“TEİD believes that fraud awareness and anti-fraud training are important elements of the internal control system and ethics and compliance programs,” Sebilcioğlu said.