A Global Economic Crime and Fraud survey, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the four biggest audit companies in the world, showed that some 53 percent of Croatian companies were victims of fraud and economic crime in 2018, a 26 percent increase compared to 2016, PwC reported on Tuesday.

Globally, 49 percent of businesses experienced economic crime in the last two years.

PwC surveyed more than 7,200 organisations from 123 countries, and Croatia took part in the survey for the second time, with 62 businesses.

Cybercrime affects every third business in Croatia (33 percent), a 25 percent increase compared to two years ago, and 21 percent above the global level.

The most prevalent cybercrimes in Croatia are malicious software (35 percent) and online identity theft (27 percent).

Nearly a half of those surveyed in Croatia, 47 percent, said that cyberattacks have seriously disrupted and/or shut down their business processes.

Some 32 percent said they expected to experience cyber attacks and believed that would be the type of crime to cause the largest disruptions with negative consequences, while 23 percent of businesses said they do not have, or are not acquainted with, any cybersecurity programmes intended to prevent and reveal this type of crime in their organisations.

The survey showed that over a half of those surveyed in Croatia, some 53 percent, would share information on their suspicions or experiences with cyberattacks with the relevant authorities.

Around a half of those surveyed in Croatia who were victims of online fraud in 2016 and 2018 said they have suffered losses of between 320,000 and 6.4 million kuna (), while 9 percent suffered financial losses greater than 6.4 million kuna (), which were not reported in 2016.

Nearly one in three out of Croatian businesses surveyed have increased funds for fight against economic crime in the last two years, and is planning to continue increasing the funds over the next two years.

The survey also showed that Croatian businesses are increasingly using more sophisticated tools for revealing and tracking fraud, compared to more traditional methods such as corporate security and routine internal revisions. Some 50 percent of reported cases of fraud were revealed through the use of sophisticated tools such as fraud risk management, data analysis and tracking of suspicious activities.

Ivana Rapic, forensic manager in PwC Croatia, said that results observed in Croatian companies differ from those on the global level in terms of a typical perpetrator of fraud.

“On the global level, the majority of perpetrators are internal (52 percent, compared to 42 percent), while those surveyed in Croatia said that there are more external perpetrators (50 percent compared to 42 percent), and that the majority of them are customers (70 percent),” she said.

Some 48 percent of those surveyed in Croatia never conducted a general risk assessment, which is nearly identical to the percentage of those surveyed who claimed they have not experienced, or they were not aware of fraud (47 percent).

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.