More than a third of companies in Germany are affected by white-collar crime, according to a survey by the German Economic Institute. Particularly affected: IT departments. The damage amounts run into the billions.
According to a survey, 34 percent of all companies in Germany were confronted with cases of economic crime such as fraud, corruption, prohibited price fixing, tax evasion or undeclared work last year. This is the highest rate since 2014, it says Survey by the Cologne Institute of German Economy (IW). The IW is based on a representative survey for which 1,001 German companies were surveyed in 2023.
According to IW, data from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) police crime statistics from 2022 support the finding. The number of economic crimes increased for the third year in a row. The total number of cases in 2022 was around 73,000. In the past five years, however, the average number was around 53,000 cases, according to IW. The IW also assumes that the number of unreported cases is high.
Damage at over two billion euros
In 2022, the monetary damage caused by economic crime amounted to more than two billion euros. White-collar crime represents only a fraction of the crimes reported in the police crime statistics PKS (1.3 percent). Nevertheless, more than a third (34.3 percent) of the total financial damage from all crimes reported in the PKS was due to cases of corruption, undeclared work or fraud. Despite the increasing number of cases, the amount of damage is declining, reports the IW with reference to crime statistics.
According to the study, the three departments in German companies most frequently affected by white-collar crime are IT (36 percent), sales with its own employees (32 percent) and finance and accounting (27 percent). The majority of all white-collar crime cases uncovered were solved in 2022 with a clearance rate of 91.8 percent.
Perpetrators often with Leadership experience
The study authors also evaluated available data on the perpetrator profiles. “In summary, white-collar criminals in Germany are mostly male, in their late 30s to mid-40s, white, usually of German origin and have a high level of education in combination with several years of professional experience in a management position,” the IW authors summarize the current study situation on the topic .
The typical German white-collar criminal is “on a personal level, tends to be neurotic, extroverted and open to new experiences, not very conscientious and socially incompatible.” According to the research report, around half of white-collar crime in Germany is committed by perpetrators outside the company.