Although there has been an overall drop in the amount of money taken or stolen fraudulently since the same period last year, the people that are committing financial and fraudulent crimes has changed. The 26 to 35 year old tech savvy generation was responsible for £62m of the £317m of fraud committed in the first half of the year, representing a 285% increase for the age range.
Fraud committed by those aged 46 or older, however, dropped by 72% to £88m. The change is credited to the way that fraud is typically committed – while it was once a white collar crime committed by executives with years of trust to help them achieve the fraud, it is the younger generation that are able to use technology in order to be able to commit complex and highly advanced fraud, hence the swing from the older generation to the younger generation.
KPMG’s fraud barometer, which measures the level and incidents of fraud that are reported over the space of the year, showed that a total of £317m of money was stolen through fraudulent crimes and activities. This, in itself, was a drop of 39% when compared to the same period last year, however this drop wasn’t witnessed in every age group, as the younger generation of fraudsters have picked up the mantle from the middle aged generation.
£62m of the fraudulently acquired money, or roughly 20%, was taken during crimes committed by the 26 to 35 year old generation. This represents a massive 28% increase from last year, and means that a generation who are more at ease with technology and have the capability to circumvent many digital security protocols, are the ones that are now committing the crimes.
Fraud used to be considered a crime that was committed by disgruntled executives, who had built up considerable trust based on the number of years’ service they had given. The 46 and over generation is still responsible for more fraud, although the age range is considerably broader. £88m of the money was taken by criminals of this age, representing a drop of 72%.