Summary

Economic crime is a growing trend, impacting both the Canadian and global economies. Adopting many forms – e.g., fraud, counterfeiting, identity theft, money laundering, etc. – it ultimately threatens global economic stability.

Exploiting globalization and new technologies, criminals resort to increasingly elaborate and transnational methods, challenging more conventional forms of law enforcement investigation and prosecution.

The potential impacts of economic crime are serious and multiple – significant loss to investors, citizen pensions, corporate image and government revenues – and ultimately challenge the integrity of both private and public institutions.

• 37% of multinational firms have experienced significant economic crime
• global impact of counterfeit products has increased from $100 M US in 1992 to over $600B US in 2004
• China is source of 2/3 of pirated goods
• money laundering represents 2-5% of global GDP
• direct cost of IP crime to Canada is estimated at $10-30B annually
• increasing range of potentially harmful counterfeit products being found in Canada, e.g., pharmaceuticals, electrical products
• currency counterfeiting on the rise in Canada
• fraud in its many forms has been on the rise since 2001
• credit card fraud has been rising steadily since 1990 in Canada – debit card fraud is an emerging issue