found that 42% of South Africans find it acceptable to commit first-party fraud – with FICO’s head of operations in Africa, Michelle Beetar, pointing to the rising cost of living as the reason behind the findings.
By contrast, South Africans surveyed were circumspect about attaching items to an insurance claim that weren’t lost, stolen, or damaged – with less than 25% saying they would commit this type of fraud. He noted that the likely reason behind this sentiment among the survey participants is that many South Africans are experiencing a rise in the cost of living and might consider that they can ease their circumstances by falsifying information in credit applications.
“Financial institutions that can spot anomalies suggesting that information is being exaggerated or misstated can take positive action to protect themselves from losses which would occur when the customer cannot afford the repayments, and the customer can be prevented from going down a path they will end up regretting,” he said.The FICO findings align with fraud data from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre Annual Crime Statistics .
Vehicle financing company Wesbank reported that the average value of cars financed in August of this year was R337,252.