Fraud and pandemics
ISSN: 1359-0790
Article publication date: 6 August 2021
Issue publication date: 14 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to draw out the common characteristics of frauds associated with pandemics and to identify any risks unique to them.
Design/methodology/approach
It considers the range of frauds and their reporting lags and examines what is known about current frauds against individuals, businesses and government, principally using public and private sector data from Australia and the UK.
Findings
The study identifies some novel crime types and methodologies arising during the current pandemic that were not seen in previous pandemics. These changes may result from public health measures taken in response to COVID-19, the current state of technologies and the activities of law enforcement and regulatory guardians. It shows that many frauds would occur anyway, but some specific – mainly online – frauds occur during pandemics, and because of large scale government assistance programmes to businesses and individuals, far more opportunities were created from COVID-19 than in previous eras.
Social implications
The study concludes with a discussion of the policy implications for prevention, resilience and for private and public policing and criminal justice. It stresses that plans for future pandemics must include provisions for better early monitoring and control of fraud and associated procurement corruption and notes that these require greater political will and organisation. It recommends a more serious analysis of the impact of prevention communications outreach to citizens, businesses and government.
Originality/value
The study uses fresh data on frauds from the private and public sectors and assesses some measures of control in a holistic way.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The present article is a shortened and updated version of the report by Michael Levi and Russell G. Smith, Fraud and its relationship to pandemics and economic crises: From Spanish ‘Flu to COVID-19’, in Research Report, No. 19, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. It is published with the kind permission of the Australian Institute of Criminology.
This research is drawn from work funded by the Australian Institute of Criminology, the British Academy (SRG20\201612) and the UK Economic and Social Research Council Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (ES/S008853/1). The authors are grateful to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for providing current data on reported COVID-19 consumer scams in Australia.
Citation
Levi, M. and Smith, R.G. (2022), "Fraud and pandemics", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 413-432. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-06-2021-0137
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited