UK SMEs lack fraud protection, facing significant financial risks, study shows

By Puja Sharma

Two in five (40%) UK SME decision-makers do not have protective measures against fraud and scamming in place, leaving them at risk of an incident or attack, new research from global research and insights agency Opinium reveals.

The research, conducted among 500 senior decision makers at SMEs, found that this rises to 45% among SMEs in hospitality, food & drink, retail and wholesale, is the same for the education and healthcare sectors combined. In comparison, 32% of professional, business, financial and legal SMEs, and 33% of SMEs in agriculture, construction and manufacturing have no safeguards in place.

This is despite one in three (34%) SME decision-makers having suffered a fraud, scam, phishing, or a deepfake incident in the past, costing affected businesses an average of £23,933 per incident. SMEs in agriculture, construction and manufacturing have been most susceptible, with almost half (47%) experiencing an incident, while 38% of hospitality, food & drink, retail and wholesale SMEs have also been victim.

Meanwhile a quarter (25%) of SME leaders admit they have experienced an increase in fraud, scam, phishing, or deepfake attempts in their organisation in the last year.

Majority of SMEs don’t train staff to spot fraud and scams

Opinium’s research also found that the majority (57%) do not run staff training on spotting fraud and scams. Just under a fifth (18%) intend to introduce training this year.

Only one in five (17%) SME leaders are worried that their business is vulnerable. Of greater concern are sales (49%), delivering profit and revenue (36%), scaling, growing and determining their future business strategy (28%), and attracting and retaining talent (18%).

Matt Howlett, Senior Research Executive at Opinium said, “Fraud and scamming is rife – everyone is vulnerable and SMEs are not immune, with many seeing an increase in fraud, scam, phishing, or deepfake attempts in the last year alone, or worse, experiencing an attack. These incidents can be incredibly harmful to a business and result in a significant financial loss which can have huge repercussions on small and medium sized firms in particular.

“So its worrying that so many aren’t protecting themselves and don’t train staff to spot fraud and scams. Investing in adequate security, and educating staff so they can identify and report any potential incidents could be crucial in future.”

SMEs want more innovation and education to protect their businesses

To protect their business from fraud, scams, phishing and deepfakes, SME leaders want:

• Innovation from the tech sector to stop scams at source (37%)
• More education on how to identify fraud, scams, phishing and deepfakes (37%)
• Better / more sophisticated technology available to protect businesses (37%)
• More education on the latest scamming techniques as they develop (26%)
• One in three (34%) SMEs have been victim of a fraud, scam, phishing, or a deepfake incident – costing an average of £24k each time
• A quarter (25%) of SME leadershave experienced an increase in scams in the last year
• More than half don’t train their staff to spot fraud and scams
• Only 17% of SME leaders say being vulnerable to fraud and scams is a top three worry – more are concerned about sales, profit and talent