Institute of the German Economy: Every third company affected by economic crime

Last year, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW), one in three German companies was affected by white-collar crime. The rate of 34 percent is the highest since 2014, said the Cologne institute. At first they had Rheinische Post reported about it.

The figures are based on a representative survey in which the IW surveyed 1,001 German companies last year. The finding is supported by the statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) from the previous year, which were published in 2023. Accordingly, the number of economic crimes recorded by the police rose for the third year in a row to 73,114 cases. Over the past five years, the average was 52,916 crimes per year. Since 2019, the number of cases has increased by almost 82 percent. This only concerns the known crimes; the IW assumes that there are a significant number of unreported cases.

crimes such as fraud, corruption, prohibited price fixing, tax evasion and undeclared work could cause annual damage of almost 2.1 billion euros, the institute said. Unlike the number of cases, this number is declining. Nevertheless, it should “not be underestimated,” said the IW.

Fraud According to the IW report, more than 50,000 cases accounted for a large part of the total amount and, at almost 900 million euros, almost half of the damage recorded. Insolvency crimes caused almost as much damage, even though there were only a few thousand cases.

This article is being updated.