This shouldn't be a surprise: thefts of information and electronic data reported by companies have surged in the past year. For the first time, they have surpassed physical property losses as the biggest corporate crime problem plaguing global companies, according to the latest Kroll annual fraud survey. Nearly 28 percent of the 801 companies surveyed reported data losses vs. 18 percent last year.

This year's study shows that the amount lost by companies to fraud rose to $1.7 million per billion of sales from $1.4 million last year, an increase of more than 20 percent. Meanwhile, 27.2 percent reported physical theft in 2009, down from 28 percent a year ago.

One surprising insight is that nearly half of respondents say fraud had dissuaded them from pursuing business opportunities in others countries; 11 percent say they are dissuaded from operating in China and similar percentages say they are dissuaded from operating in Africa and Latin America. So the expected costs of doing business in those countries is significantly propped up by fraud costs, which is sad indeed.

But for all the angst, only 48 percent of companies are planning to spend more on information security in the next 12 months, down from 51 percent last year. This would appear to be faulty planning, but the effect of the recession on IT spending has to be figured in; it continues to be immense. 

For more:
- here's the survey

Related Articles:
Fighting Financial Fraud
Good anti-fraud policies can impress regulators
The most effective anti-fraud tools?