Shrink, comprised of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud and administrative errors, cost the global retail industry more than $128bn last year, $42bn in the US alone, according to the latest Global Retail Theft Barometer. This represents 1.29 percent of retail sales, on average.

Organizations around the world lose an estimated 5 percent of their annual revenues to occupational fraud, according to a survey of certified fraud examiners who investigated cases between January 2012 and December 2013. Applied to the estimated 2013 gross world product, this figure translates to a potential total fraud loss of more than $3.5tr.

The number of companies falling victim to fraud has increased in the past year, according to the 2013 Kroll Global Fraud Report. Overall, 70 percent of companies were affected by fraud in the past 12 months, up from 61 percent the previous year, and there was an increase in every category of fraud covered by the study.