The commercial crime rate in the Free State, especially cases opened by bank customers, have declined this year in comparison to previous years. This is according to Anton Nicolaisen, Free State Provincial Head of Standard Bank.
He said during this morning’s launch of the provincial Fraud Awareness Campaign that as people become more aware and vigilant about these crimes, such as identity theft, they get picked up quicker and efforts to curb them become more effective.
Video Sandra Mulder
Nicolaisen says people are also more willing to speak about fraud and corruption cases.
“I think everyone is more aware of it and with that come more whistle-blowing and I think if you listen to what is going on – people speak up on these cases quicker and are much more frank about these kind of issues and there is a decline in the number of issues.”
UFS Business School’s Jo’Anni Deacon also added that the university has been busy
training people on how to investigate fraud. Video: Sandra Mulder
Cathy Dlodlo/Courant News
