'Beware of cyber criminals from social media’

Muscat: The changing environment driven by rapid technology and digital growth are emerging challenges of the modern world.
“Cyber security is a great concern across the world for several countries, its businesses and its people,” said Mubeen Khan, advisor at the Capital Market Authority (CMA).
He was speaking on the emerging challenges in digital fraud at a CPE event hosted by the Oman Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). He said that the social media is vulnerable to evil minds, who could have the personal data in no time and corrupt the minds of young people.
Earlier, welcoming the participants at the conference, Davis Kallukaran, President of the Oman Chapter of ACFE, said that a recent study carried out by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners revealed that a typical organisation loses 5 per cent of revenues in a given year as a result of fraud. Out of the 2,410 cases examined in 2016 across 114 countries, it was found that the total loss was about $6.3 billion.
“The challenges of arriving at the total cost of frauds are numerous. We do not know the millions of fraud cases that go undetected or not reported costing billions. But attempts to determine the cost of fraud are important since it helps to understand the size of the problem and it’s impact. It enables organisations to quantify their fraud risk and helps the management to take educated decisions about investing in antifraud resources and programmes.”
Every day, stories about fraud hit the news. From embezzlement to fraud, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is the best resource for insight into why these frauds occur. With more than 80,000 members, the ACFE has experts on six continents that have investigated millions of suspected cases of fraud. Whether you are covering occupational fraud, data breaches, corruption, insider trading, consumer fraud, insurance fraud, charity fraud or any variety of issues, CFE can help.
According to Kallukaran, forensic accounting is a comparatively new profession and is in high demand. Professionals can get an instant boost with the globally recognised certification- CFE. Based in Austin, Texas, the ACFE was founded in 1988 by preeminent fraud expert and author, Dr. Joseph T Wells, CFE, CPA. Dr. Wells’ insight as an accountant-turned-FBI agent led to the formation of a common body of knowledge known today as fraud examination.
The event was held under the patronage of Dr Ahmed Al Ghassani, the Dean of the College of Banking and Financial Studies, and was attended by more than hundred professionals from the Royal Oman Police, State Audit, Capital Market Authority, financial institutions, banks and colleges.