Business Crime Expected to Soar
As many SMEs struggle to survive the current economic instability, there is an additional threat on the horizon to add to their worries. Research from Premierline Direct¹, the business insurance specialists, has highlighted that a third of SME owners believe crime against businesses is on the rise; a view supported by Home Office criminologists, who earlier this year predicted that the credit crunch will bring an end to falling crime rates².
The most common types of crimes against businesses are theft from premises (54 per cent), fraud (19 per cent), malicious damage (16 per cent) and theft from a vehicle (16 per cent). Other types of events noted from SMEs included online fraud and theft from staff. Worryingly, the research showed that the average cost for a claim amounts to £3,409, which is money the business owner would have to find if they didn’t have adequate cover.
Also, it’s not just a case of businesses experiencing criminal activity just once. Of the SMEs that have been a victim of crime, 35 per cent have been targeted more than three times and 36 per cent have had an incident in the last twelve months.
To help businesses in the fight against crime, Premierline Direct has launched Beat Business Crime; which provides a platform for regional business communities to keep in touch about crime in their area. The website’s forum allows users to post a message about an incident so that their business neighbours can be on the alert. In addition, it features a risk assessment questionnaire to help SMEs identify how susceptible their business is to criminal activity and offers information on how to protect themselves.
Chris Little, Managing Director of Premierline Direct says: “The general consensus among the SME community is that crime against businesses is on the increase. So we’ve listened to the views of small businesses, who said they would find it useful to have a forum where they could get advice and share information with other business owners in their area, and responded to their needs by launching the Beat Business Crime website.
“To reduce the risk of business crime it’s important that businesses do all they can to protect themselves, for example by preventing unlawful access to their premises or by undertaking proper checks on new employees. But it’s also important that they review their insurance policy to ensure they have accurately valued their assets and have the correct level of insurance cover in place.
“We understand how disruptive a claim can be and therefore want to help businesses avoid being a victim of crime. The Beat Business Crime website is a step towards achieving this.”
Compounding the fact that business crime is not recorded separately by the police, it seems that many SMEs choose not to report the incident. Of the companies that had been a victim of crime, a third admitted they had not bothered to report it with 29 per cent saying they didn’t see the point.
Notes
1. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 635 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th - 6th June 2008. The survey was carried out online.