Fraud against the Commonwealth 2020–21

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Abstract

This Statistical Bulletin presents the results from the AIC’s 2020–21 Fraud Against the Commonwealth census. The number of internal fraud investigations commenced increased from the previous year, while the number of external fraud investigations commenced decreased.

Of the substantiated allegations, the most common targets for internal and external frauds were information and Commonwealth benefits respectively. Data analytics was the most common method of detecting both internal and external fraud in 2020–21.

The total losses from internal and external fraud in 2020–21 were larger than in 2019–20. Entities reported greater overall recoveries in 2020–21 than in the previous year for both internal and external fraud.