Crime & Fraud

What is crime & fraud insurance?

Crime and fraud insurance, also called commercial crime insurance, covers your business’s direct financial losses from theft, fraud, and dishonest acts, whether that’s an employee stealing from the till, a forged cheque, or someone tricking your staff into wiring money to the wrong account. It’s usually added on top of a broader business policy rather than sold as a stand-alone product.

What it covers

• Employee theft and dishonesty, including stolen cash, inventory, equipment, or securities
• Forgery and alteration, like forged cheques or altered financial documents
• Funds transfer fraud and social engineering scams, where someone tricks an employee into sending money or changing payment details
• Theft of money and securities, whether it happens on-site, in transit, or at a financial institution
• Theft of client property, if your business handles a customer’s assets or funds

How it’s different from cyber insurance

Crime and fraud coverage protects against dishonesty and deception: internal theft, or someone manipulating your staff into handing over money. Cyber insurance protects against external attacks on your systems and data, like a hacker breaching your network or ransomware locking you out of your files. Many businesses carry both, since the two cover different sides of the same risk.

What it typically doesn’t cover

• Data breaches or cyberattacks (that’s cyber insurance)
• Honest mistakes or poor judgment (that’s errors & omissions)
• Dishonest acts by business owners or senior management, rather than employees
• Lost income or business interruption caused by the crime itself, which needs its own coverage