While corporate fraud is reported to be rising globally, with asset misappropriation still the most common type, cybercrime is seen shooting up the charts, especially in the United States, according to the just-released 2011 Global Economic Crime Survey conducted by PwC.

Of the 3,877 executives at organizations in 78 countries responding to the survey, 34% said they had experienced economic crime in the last 12 months, up from 30% in 2009. In the U.S., 45% said their company had experienced fraud, compared to 35% in 2009, and 40% of those said that they had been affected by cybercrime. In 2009, cybercrime was hardly on the radar, said speakers at the PwC media lunch held on Tuesday to introduce the U.S. supplement to the global report.

Companies have become more sophisticated and savvy at internal controls, preventing fraud and conducting risk assessments, so they are more likely to recognize fraud and report it now, says Didier Lavion, principal of PwC's forensic services practice.