ROI Calculator

What Could Your Fraud Team Achieve with
the Follow The Money System?

Select your industry and adjust the sliders to see your time, cost, and prosecutable-exposure uplift. Market anchor: senior advocates and Senior Counsel charge R3,000-R8,000/hr (R30k-R80k/day) in SA; a typical fraud case requires 30-50 hours of specialist work (ACFE). Industry figures where linked: SABRIC, ACFE, LexisNexis. Metro ~4% conviction rate: Department of Justice metro statistics, 2024 (as cited; pending primary-source URL) — not an NPA-enrolled-case metric.

Data Sources

SABRIC Annual Crime Statistics 2024 ACFE Report to the Nations 2024 LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud SA | Methodology in review with a senior prosecutor

Step 1

Select Your Industry

Defaults populate based on SA industry averages (2024 data)

Step 2

Adjust Your Numbers

60
5500
R2.5M
R100kR20M
6
2 hrs200 hrs

ACFE duration benchmarks: Prosecutability opinion 2-5 hrs · Standard case 6-20 hrs · Deep forensic (single-scheme) 30-50 hrs · Complex multi-scheme 100-200+ hrs

R2,000
R500R9,000

SA market anchors: Junior investigator R124-R270/hr · Senior forensic accountant R337-R441/hr · Senior Advocate/SC R3,000-R8,000/hr (2024 SAFLII data)

R4,000
R0R25,000

Includes HANIS, CIPC, Section 205 admin, physical verification, and detection tools.

20%
4%60%

SA metro average: 4% conviction rate (DOJ). Industry estimate: 15-20%. Follow The Money has no measured conviction or readiness results yet, so the target below is your own assumption, not a Follow The Money result.

50%
5%95%
70%
0%90%

Model assumptions

  • • 70% time reduction per case (your setting above — modelled, not measured)
  • • ~40% external cost reduction
  • • Prosecution readiness rising to your 50% target (your assumption — not a Follow The Money result or a conviction rate)

Estimated Annual Value (Modelled)

R0 per year

Combined: time savings, cost efficiency, and illustrative prosecutable-exposure delta — not a promise of cash recovered.

Model uses your assumptions: 70% time reduction, ~40% external cost reduction, and prosecution readiness rising to your 50% target. None of these is a measured Follow The Money result or a conviction rate. Prosecutable-exposure uplift applies a ~10% recovery fraction of case value (aligned with the break-even note on this page) × success-rate change — not full case-value recovery.

⏱ Time Saved

0

hours per year

= 0 work days

💰 Cost Saved

R0

annually

= 0 FTE investigators

📈 Extra Capacity

+0

cases / year

= 0× team throughput

Benchmark Comparison

Your performance vs. SA industry vs. your target

Prosecution readiness / your target

SA metro average (DOJ) 4%
Your current rate 20%
Your target (assumption) 50%

Case Review Time

Your current process 6 hrs/case
At your assumed reduction 1.8 hrs/case

Section 205 Application Turnaround

Typical detective-drafted application 3–8 months (ops experience)
Properly drafted by FTM Target: 3–4 weeks (not yet measured)

The Cost of Doing Nothing

What you're losing every year

At your current prosecution success rate, these are the cases — and the money — you're writing off annually.

Unprosecuted Cases / Year

48

of 60 fraud cases

Prosecutable Value at Risk / Year

R0

case value tied to unprosecuted matters (illustrative)

True Cost of Fraud (LexisNexis Multiplier)

R0

in total fraud cost

LexisNexis research shows every R1 of direct fraud loss in SA costs firms R4.52 when you factor in labour, external costs, interest, and operational disruption.

3-Year Compound Loss (No Deterrence)

R0

cumulative fraud cost

Without successful prosecutions creating deterrence, the same fraudsters return. SA industry saw 49% YoY increase in fraud cases reported (LexisNexis 2024).

Break-Even Context

Against the market anchor of a senior advocate at R5,000/hr, a typical Full Analysis engagement pays for itself after just 1 additional successful prosecution. Contact us for a tailored proposal.

Illustrative only: assumes ~R60k Opinion/retainer cost and models ~10% of average case value as the recovery fraction credited per additional successful prosecution — not a guarantee of cash recovered.

Research-Backed Methodology

Data sources and calculations

📊 SA Fraud Losses Data

  • • SA total financial crime losses: R2.7B (2024) (SABRIC)
  • • Digital banking fraud: R1.89B, 64,000 cases (+86% YoY)
  • • VAF fraud potential losses: R23B (+50% YoY)
  • • Card fraud: R1.466B (+26%)
  • • Insurance fraud detected: R131.6M across 16,520 cases

💵 True Cost of Fraud (LexisNexis)

  • • R4.52 per R1 fraud — Financial institutions
  • • R3.10 per R1 fraud — Retailers
  • • R3.64 per R1 fraud — SA average
  • • 49% of SA firms saw YoY fraud increase
  • • 87% report customer satisfaction impact

🔍 Investigation Benchmarks (ACFE / Forensic Industry)

  • • Median loss per case (financial services): ~R2.2M
  • • Simple fraud investigation: 30-50 hours
  • • Complex multi-scheme case: 200+ hours
  • • Forensic accountant rate: $300-500/hr (~R5.5k-R9k)
  • • Typical case cost: $10k-30k (~R180k-540k)

⚖️ SA Prosecution Reality

  • • Metro fraud conviction rate: ~4% (Department of Justice metro statistics, 2024 — as cited; pending primary URL)
  • • Typical Section 205 turnaround: 3-8 months (ops experience)
  • • Properly drafted Section 205: 3-4 weeks (target from ops experience, not yet measured; early digital S205 indications may be faster)
  • • Case closure risk after 12 months: ~60% (experience-based observation — complainant untraceable; not a DOJ/NPA published statistic)
  • • Follow The Money results: none measured yet — the target readiness rate in this calculator is your own assumption

Calculation Formulas

Time Savings

Cases × Current Hours × Assumed Reduction

Cost Savings (Labour + External)

(Time Saved × Rate) + (Cases × External × 0.40)

Illustrative Prosecutable-Exposure Delta

Cases × (Your Target - Current) × Case Value × ~10% recovery fraction

Exposure delta with ~10% recovery fraction (same fraction as break-even on this page) — not a promise of cash recovered. Distinct from true-cost article’s illustrative 25% POCA recovery assumption.

True Cost of Fraud

(Unrecovered × Multiplier) + Wasted External

Fees Deliberately Not Included in This Calculator

This calculator is designed to give you a credible "is this worth exploring?" figure in under 60 seconds. The following case-specific fees vary too widely to model usefully here — we'd rather give you conservative numbers than inflated ones.

⚖️ Legal counsel / advocate fees

Varies from R0 (NPA handles) to R200k+ for private-brief cases. Case-by-case.

👨‍⚖️ Expert witness fees

R5k-R50k per witness. Only applies when your case requires expert testimony.

🏛️ Court filing & POCA fees

Marginal (<R5k per case) when NPA-led. Excluded as immaterial.

💻 Technology tool subscriptions

Annual licences (e.g. AI detection tools, case management software). Not per-case.

🎓 Team training & onboarding

One-off setup cost (R35k-R180k for workshop/masterclass). Not ongoing.

📊 Audit & compliance remediation

Regulatory response costs post-fraud. Highly organisation-specific.

The LexisNexis 4.52× multiplier used in the "True Cost of Fraud" calculation already incorporates most of these secondary costs at the industry average. For your specific situation, take the Free Assessment for a tailored next step.

Primary Sources

These calculations are illustrative estimates based on published data and typical outcomes. Actual results depend on case complexity, evidence quality, and organisational adoption. Contact us for a detailed ROI assessment tailored to your situation.

Ready to See These Numbers in Your Organisation?

Start with the free Prosecution Readiness Assessment — then email us if you want a tailored ROI discussion for your organisation.

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