The pandemic saw a rise in asset misappropriation frauds where the cheats either stole internal assets or stationary of a company or offered supply information for personal gains. 

During the lockdown, the perpetrators robbed employers, government grants, charities and even eBay users. In addition, some organised groups hijacked taxpayers' identities to extract illegitimate funds.  

How Does It Happen?

The common forms of asset misappropriation are – skimming (where the employee does not report the sale and pockets the money), inventory theft, cash theft, check forgery and bogus disbursements.  

Small businesses should conduct random audits and employee checks to avoid losses caused by such actions. The firm can rotate duties in the accounts and inventory department and ensure the guidelines and procedures are followed properly. They should conduct uninformed checks to determine the stock level balance. 

• Do not furnish powers to authorise all payments to one employee. You should provide limited access to the employees at each stage. 

• Always check the details of the transactions carefully to find discrepancies.

• It is important that you protect your firm's assets and do not trust the workers completely. 

• It would be best to integrate additional vigilance and spending on security services to eliminate risk factors. 

• In case of suspected fraud, report it to the administration.