In an era dominated by anxieties over artificial intelligence (AI), deepfakes, and sophisticated cyberattacks, corporate boardrooms are spending heavily to fortify their digital perimeters from these threats.
However, a global survey by KPMG reveals a stark, counterintuitive reality that the overwhelming majority of corporate crime remains surprisingly low-tech but very high on old-school methods.
The report cited by The High Street Journal reveals that despite media focus on high-tech threats, traditional fraud schemes, mainly driven by old-fashioned paper trails, falsified documentation, and insider embezzlement, continue to rule corporate crime worldwide.
The Low-Tech Reality
KPMG’s forensic analysis of 256 major corporate fraud cases revealed that technology plays a far smaller role than commonly assumed.
The report found that 46% of corporate frauds were committed with no technology whatsoever. 35% utilized technology only minimally, meaning the crimes could easily have occurred without digital tools.
Interestingly, only 5% of investigated cases were classified as true “cyber fraud,” such as phishing, malware, ransomware, or business email compromise.
KPMG says cases involving artificial intelligence (AI) or cryptocurrency represented only a “mere handful” of total incidents.
Paper Trails and Asset Theft Reign Supreme
Instead of digital super-hackers breaching firewalls, companies face a much more grounded threat. These are internal asset thefts enabled by manual documentation gaps.
Misappropriation of assets emerged as the single most common form of corporate fraud, present in 52% of all reported cases, followed closely by falsified documentation at 29%.
When examining how assets were stolen, traditional methods proved dominant:
Embezzlement: Accounted for 50% of all asset misappropriation cases, where trusted insiders unlawfully diverted company assets.
Procurement Fraud: Represented 38% of misappropriations, typically involving employee collusion with vendors to inflate prices or generate fake invoices.
Fundamental Controls Over Digital Hype
The report signals that traditional manual schemes remain highly effective because they exploit basic internal control weaknesses, such as unscrutinized paperwork, weak physical oversight, and unchecked executive authority. Furthermore, traditional paper-based frauds are often less traceable by automated IT monitoring systems than digital transactions.
As Alexander Geschonneck, Global Forensic Leader at KPMG in Germany, noted “Despite the prevalence of technology, many frauds are still committed using traditional methods. This suggests that, while technology can aid in detection, fundamental controls remain essential.”
This means that for corporate leaders, while guarding against emerging AI threats is vital, neglecting basic document verification and paper-trail controls leaves the corporate front door wide open for the perpetration of fraud.
