PwC Crime Survey: 25% of Hungarian companies are victims of economic crime

The biennial survey involved more than 3,600 companies in 34 countries, including 75 leading companies in Hungary. Our 2005 economic crime survey reveals that 25% of companies surveyed in Hungary reported being subject to one or more serious economic crimes during the previous two years. Although this is significantly lower than the global average (45%), over the past two years Hungarian respondents had suffered a shocking 8.8 cases of fraud on average, which is higher than for the CEE as a whole and global figures.
The average financial damage to Hungarian companies from tangible frauds was over $800,000. 17% of Hungarian companies surveyed had losses in excess of $1 million. The bitter experience of 58% of Hungarian companies that reported a fraud was that the fraud perpetrators were from among their own staff. The typical perpetrator in Hungary was male (95%), between the ages of 31 and 40 (45%). 50% of fraudsters were educated to university degree level.