The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN accountants specialising in internal fraud investigations have noticed a rise in identity theft and bribery schemes likely brought on by unemployment.

And more businesses have opted to investigate thefts and prosecute the alleged offenders, according to Kendrick Christie, the Grant Thornton (Bahamas) partner and certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

“I would say that because of the impact of unemployment we are seeing a rise of identity theft in the Bahamas, which we never used to talk about here. We are also seeing the rise of bribery schemes. Bahamians are becoming more sophisticated and are finding ways to bribe and blackmail people to do certain things,” said Mr Christie.

He added that employee fraud involving cash and inventory was still prevalent, with this nation in line with Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) findings that businesses, on average, suffered losses equivalent to 5 per cent of annual revenues.

“We see cases where employees are placed in a position where they are doing too many things; they are receiving cash, depositing funds and keeping records of the cash. A small business sometimes has to have persons in a position of trust, but you still have to monitor and do consistent checks,” said Mr Christie.

“We are also looking at cash theft. Persons no longer seem to have the same value system they used to have back in the day. Sometimes opportunity comes together with incentive to create a situation where an individual can take advantage. We are seeing more cases of cash and inventory theft appear.”

Mr Christie said more businesses are now opting to investigate fraud and prosecute the alleged offenders. Companies in the past had often chosen to simply dismiss staff members involved, sometimes with agreements for the return of the missing funds, resulting in dishonest employees often bouncing from employer to employer.

“We are seeing businesses being more prone to investigate and then make a decision to prosecute. We are doing some forensic fraud investigations, and I would say that there probably has even been a pick up in some of those investigations over the last several years,” Mr Christie said.