jobs

2.6 Million Lost Jobs Result of Communications Fraud

Did I get your attention? I thought I might.

Now, let’s step back and look at the perhaps questionable or dubious math I used to arrive at this sensational conclusion.

A recent worldwide survey by the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) reported that the annual loss from communications fraud is about $80 billion (USD). Assuming an annual income of $30,000 - perhaps low for United States standards, but arguably quite high by global standards- that means that companies lose the equivalent amount of money as 2.6 million employees’ annual salaries.

So, could 2.6 million more people have decent paying jobs if we got communications fraud under control? I am sure the correlation is not that direct. If more money in the corporate coffers translated to more jobs or higher paying jobs then trickle-down economics wouldn’t be such an abysmal failure.

But, money is money. Assuming your employer could save 10% or 15% of the annual communications expenses by reducing or eliminating fraud it might make that next request for a raise go a little smoother.

Forgetting employees entirely- the company has its own interests to look out for as well. I assume the corporations can find better things to do with $80 billion. Relative to the losses, the investment in the tools and technologies to secure communications and prevent fraud is relatively small. Companies should view this report as a wake up call of sorts and use it to build the business case for funding that VoIP / unified communications security project that is pending approval.