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Stimulus fraud could hit $50 billion
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Greg Morcroft
MarketWatch
June 12, 2009

Swindlers, con men, and thieves could siphon off as much as $1 out of every $10 spent as billions of dollars in stimulus money begin flowing into all corners of the economy in coming months.

Companies will face increased pressure to try to stem the tide, and need to be prepared to safeguard data as well as the cash, according to David Williams, the chief executive of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.


Williams said this week that the money flowing from the current stimulus package is particularly vulnerable to fraud because almost all movement of money is now done electronically.

“We’re telling our clients to be very careful and to make sure their firms are resilient in terms of dealing with the potential opportunities for fraud and waste,” Williams said.