Machine learning: The new way to combat expenses fraud? ITProPortal.com

Consider the following expenses claims: registration fees for a cancelled seminar, two separate claims for mileage when the employees travelled together, and a sandwich-and-coffee dinner claimed as the full per diem. While it's easy to believe that a few dishonest claims won't hurt, for individual victims, expenses fraud can be costly. Research conducted by the National Fraud Authority suggests that exaggerated expenses claims cost the British economy around 100 million annually; the private sector alone lost 80 million in 2013. Imagine if 20 per cent of your staff added 10 per cent to each mileage claim; the cumulative loss for the company would quickly become significant. Existing fraud detection systems flag dubious-looking expenses according to a set of rules, such as challenging claims in excess of a fixed cash amount or those that are 5 percent higher than claims submitted by peers in similar positions.