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This paper aims to focus on the different types of insider-led cyber frauds that gained mainstream attention in recent large-scale fraud events involving prominent Indian banking institutions. In addition to identifying and classifying cyber fraud, the study maps them on a severity scale for optimal mitigation planning.

The methodology used for identification and classification is an analysis of a detailed literature review, a focus group discussion with risk and vigilance officers and cyber cell experts, as well as secondary data of cyber fraud losses. Through machine learning-based random forest, the authors predicted the future of insider-led cyber frauds in the Indian banking business and prioritized and predicted the same. The projected future reveals the dominance of a few specific cyber frauds, which will make it easier to develop a fraud mitigation model based on a victim-centric approach.

The paper concludes with a conceptual framework that can be used to ensure a sustainable cyber fraud mitigation ecosystem within the scope of the study. By using the findings of this research, policymakers and fraud investigators will be able to create a more robust environment for banks through timely detection of cyber fraud and prevent it appropriately before it happens.

The study focuses on fraud, risk and mitigation from a victim-centric perspective and does not address it from the fraudster’s perspective. Data availability was a challenge. Banks are recommended to compile data that can be used for analysis both by themselves and other policymakers.

The structured, sustainable cyber fraud mitigation suggested in the study will provide an agile, quick, proactive, stakeholder-specific plan that helps to safeguard banks, employees, regulatory authorities, customers and the economy. It saves resources, cost and time for bank authorities and policymakers. The mitigation measures will also help improve the reputational status of the Indian banking business and prolong the banks’ sustenance.

The innovative cyber fraud mitigation approach contributes to the sustainability of a bank’s ecosystem quickly, proactively and effectively.

The study aims to overview the different types of internal-led cyber fraud that have gained mainstream attention in recent major-value fraud events involving prominent Indian banks. The authors attempted to identify and classify cyber frauds and its drivers and correlate them for optimal mitigation planning.

The methodology opted for the identification and classification is through a detailed literature review and focus group discussion with risk and vigilance officers and cyber cell experts. The authors assessed the future of cyber fraud in the Indian banking business through the machine learning–based k-nearest neighbor (K-NN) approach and prioritized and predicted the future of cyber fraud. The predicted future revealing dominance of a few specific cyber frauds will help to get an appropriate fraud prevention model, using an associated parties centric (victim and offender) root-cause approach. The study uses correlation analysis and maps frauds with their respective drivers to determine the resource specific effective mitigation plan.

Finally, the paper concludes with a conceptual framework for preventing internal-led cyber fraud within the scope of the study. A cyber fraud mitigation ecosystem will be helpful for policymakers and fraud investigation officers to create a more robust environment for banks through timely and quick detection of cyber frauds and prevention of them.

Additionally, the study supports the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India's launched cyber security initiates and schemes which ensure protection for the banking ecosystem i.e. RBI direct scheme, integrated ombudsman scheme, cyber swachhta kendra (botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre), National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) and Security Monitoring Centre (SMC).

Structured and effective internal-led plans for cyber fraud mitigation proposed in this study will conserve banks, employees, regulatory authorities, customers and economic resources, save bank authorities’ and policymakers’ time and money, and conserve resources. Additionally, this will enhance the reputation of the Indian banking industry and extend its lifespan.

The innovative insider-led cyber fraud mitigation approach quickly identifies cyber fraud, prioritizes it, identifies its prominent root causes, map frauds with respective root causes and then suggests strategies to ensure a cost-effective and time-saving bank ecosystem.

The purpose of this study is to develop an innovative approach of combating economic crime using the forensic accounting techniques.

The approach considered the identification of the effective forensic accounting techniques from the available literature and also explored the anti-economic crime policy, capable of assisting in the combating of economic crime. This brought about the development of two conceptual models, which incorporate all the requirements for the implementation of forensic accounting and the integration of forensic accounting technique into the organizational control system for effective fraud mitigation.

The analysis of the literature review indicated that one of the drawbacks, which has continue to mitigate the implementation of forensic accounting as a tool for combating fraud is lack of a suitable framework. This was the major focal point of this work, which produced two simplified conceptual models suitable for effective fraud mitigation.

This study is limited to the development of conceptual models for fraud mitigation only.

The simplified model can easily be adopted into the structure of an organization to provide a sustainable solution to mitigate fraud occurrences.

The novelty of this study lies in the development of two simplified conceptual models. The first model addressed the incorporation of forensic accounting into the organization structure while the second captured the detailed investigation and comprehensive data analysis processes of uncovering fraud. The development of conceptual models with all these peculiarities for fraud mitigation has not been widely reported by the existing literature.

Identity fraud is a growing issue for online retail organisations. The literature on this issue is scattered, and none of the studies presents a holistic view of identity fraud management practices in the online retail context. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the identity fraud management practices and present a comprehensive set of practices for e-tail sector.

A systematic literature review approach was adopted, and the articles were selected through pre-set inclusion criteria. The authors synthesised existing literature to investigate identity fraud management in e-tail sector.

The research finds that literature on practices for identity fraud management is scattered. The findings also reveal that firms assume identity fraud issues as a technological challenge, which is one of the major reasons for a gap in effective management of identity frauds. This research suggests e-tailers to deal this issue as a management challenge and counter strategies should be developed in technological, human and organisational aspects.

This study is limited to the published sources of data. Studies, based on empirical data, will be helpful to support the argument of this study; additionally, future studies are recommended to include a wide number of databases.

This research will help e-tail organisations to understand the whole of identity fraud management and help them develop and implement a comprehensive set of practices at each stage, for effective management identity frauds.

This research makes unique contributions by synthesising existing literature at each stage of fraud management and encompasses social, organisational and technological aspects. It will also help academicians understanding a holistic view of available research and opens new lines for future research.

First-party fraud in which retail consumers commit fraud against retailers is a growing problem. However, to date studies on retail crime have focused almost entirely on fraudulent consumer behaviours in physical stores. With the growth of e-commerce, the losses to retailers from this fraud are growing so there is strong need to research this problem from multiple perspectives. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The authors conducted three case studies and a total of 24 semi-structured interviews with retail managers, and evaluated their existing prevention-related documentation. Fraud management lifecycle theory was used to organise and discuss the findings.

The authors found that many retailers are treating this problem as just a cost of doing business online and have no detailed plans for dealing with this problem or any reporting to law enforcement agencies. However, they have begun working with delivery companies for delivery accuracy. Use of convenience stores as collection points is also showing early improvements.

The small number of cases and interviews used is a limitation of this study. However, the authors believe that the findings are useful for advancing knowledge in this emerging research area.

This study provides insight into existing management practices in this domain, and makes recommendations on how to improve the management of first-party fraud. The study also makes a case for increased managerial interest and involvement in reducing first-party fraud. The study also helps bridge a glaring gap in existing literature and provides useful leads for further research.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the existing practices employed to manage first-party fraud in e-retail.

This paper aims to examine the effect of top management support (TMS) and risk management (RM) on the internal audit activities (IAA) and fraud mitigation (FM) in the Libyan banking sector.

The data is collected using a survey questionnaire of 16 commercial banks in Libya and analysed using a structural equation modeling.

The study shows positive and significant relationships between RM and employees’ FM and TMS and employees’ FM. The study also demonstrates a significant mediating effect on the relationship between RM, TMS and FM.

The study is conducted in the Libyan banking sector. Further research is needed in other contexts and sectors to understand the contribution of the RM and TMS on FM, including the impact of technology and internal audit characteristics in terms of experience, education and professional certificates on FM.

The study is the first attempt to explore FM in an emerging economy, particularly Libya, by introducing IAA as a mediator. The study provides implications for regulators and top management in the banking sector.

This study aims to investigate internal control (IC) implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs). This study also explores determinants, obstacles and contributions of IC implementation within HEIs.

The study uses a qualitative research method by conducting semi-structured interviews with internal auditors of HEIs.

This study found a difference of IC among all HEIs in terms of design. IC implementation is perceived to have a positive contribution to accountability enhancement and fraud mitigation. Several determinants and obstacles faced by HEIs in implementing IC are presented in the paper.

The IC has to be operated effectively to achieve its benefit. However, not all HEIs implement IC properly.

This paper is a pioneer study that raises IC implementation in HEIs and its role in governance practices and corruption mitigation.

This paper aims to explain the fundraising and valuation processes of startups and discuss the conflicts of interest between entrepreneurs, venture capital (VC) firms and stakeholders in the context of startup corporate governance. Further, this paper uses the examples of WeWork and Zenefits to explain how a failure of stakeholders to demand an external audit from an independent accounting firm in early stages of funding led to an opportunity for fraud.

The methodology used is a literature review and analysis of startup valuation combined with the Fraud Triangle Theory. This paper also provides a discussion of WeWork and Zenefits, both highly visible examples of startup fraud, and explores an increased role for independent external auditors in fraud risk mitigation on behalf of stakeholders prior to an initial public offering (IPO).

This paper documents a number of fraud risks posed by the “fake it till you make it” ethos and investor behavior and pricing in the world of entrepreneurial finance and VC, which could be mitigated by a greater awareness of startup stakeholders of the value of an external audit performed by an independent accounting firm prior to an IPO.

An implication of this paper is that regulators should consider greater oversight of the startup financing process and potentially take steps to facilitate greater independence of participants in the IPO process.

Given the potential conflicts of interest between VC firms, investment banks and startup founders, the investors at the time of an IPO may be exposed to the risk that the shares of the IPO firms are overvalued at offering.

This study demonstrates how startup practices can be extended to the Fraud Triangle and issue a call to action for the accounting profession to take a greater role in protecting the public from startup fraud. This study then offers recommendations for regulators and standards entities.

There are few academic papers in the financial crime literature that link the valuation and culture of startup firms with fraud risk. This study provides a concise explanation of the process of valuation for startups and highlights the considerations for stakeholders in assessing fraud risk. In addition, this study documents an emerging role for auditors as stewards of proper valuation for pre-IPO firms.

This paper aims to highlight the role and impact of corporate governance in combating fraud by drawing on insights from the literature, identify gaps in the literature and suggest new directions for future research.

The paper is based on a comprehensive general literature review using multiple search engines and databases.

This paper finds that effective corporate governance can help reduce fraud risk, prevent fraud and detect fraud, particularly corporate fraud, insider fraud and asset diversion. Some companies use corporate governance mechanisms to bolster their reputation following fraud detection. Ineffective corporate governance increases fraud risk, provides the opportunity for perpetrating fraud and reduces the likelihood of fraud detection. The paper sheds light on several governance mechanisms that could help in mitigating fraud risk, as reported in the literature. The paper categorises these governance mechanisms into four broad governance aspects, including board leadership and the role of ethics; (b) board characteristics, composition and structure; ownership structure; accountability. The paper proposes a guide summarising these broad fundamental governance aspects, including specific anti-fraud controls and examples of how organisations could enhance ethical cultures and the tone at the top.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to elucidate the role of corporate governance in countering fraud and develop guidance in this area. The proposed guidance could be helpful to businesses leaders, policymakers, researchers and academics alike.

This paper examines the linkages between the ethics and management control literatures and suggests some potentially fruitful areas for future research and for integration in the classroom.

We review topics in the ethics and management control literatures organizing them around the six modules used in the accounting ethics course taught at the University of Southern California: (a) professional standards, (b) distinguishing right from wrong, (c) understanding why (good) people do bad things, (d) getting employees to behave ethically (corporate ethics programs), (e) getting people to speak up when they see something wrong taking place (Giving Voice to Values), and (f) whistleblowing (the last resort).

While we find many topics where ethics and management control are concerned with similar issues, there are very few papers that approach these topics from the two perspectives.

We provide an overview of topics where ethics and management control overlap, and highlight the need for greater convergence between the two literatures. By linking MCS and ethics, organizations can provide a framework to promote behavior that both contributes to the achievement of the organization’s objectives and also follows ethical principles. We comment on what may happen when ethics and management control diverge, and discuss controls that can promote a strong ethical climate.