Page 104 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

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As the preceding chart shows, the victim organization entered into a restitution agreement
with the perpetrator in 23% of the cases. When a private restitution agreement was
reached, the victim company had a median recovery of 95% of its losses. By comparison,
the median recovery in all cases was 20%. However, the “private restitution” cases
tended to involve small frauds; the median loss in these cases was $59,000. It is often
much more difficult to obtain a significant recovery in a larger fraud case.

Criminal Prosecutions
Despite frequent claims that organizations are hesitant to prosecute fraud offenders,
our data showed that the majority of victim organizations referred their cases to law
enforcement authorities. The rate of referral was actually slightly lower than in 2002,
but at 69% it was still higher than anecdotal evidence frequently suggests.

Cases Referred to Law Enforcement – Frequency

Referred to Law Enforcement Not reported 24.6% 75.4% 2004
68.9%
Reported

31.1%
2002

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Percent of Cases

Not surprisingly, the decision of whether to refer a case for prosecution seems to be
strongly influenced by the size of the fraud. In cases that were referred to prosecutors,
the median loss was $135,000. This was more than double the median loss in cases
that were not referred.

Cases Referred to Law Enforcement – Median Loss
Referred to Law Enforcement Not reported $55,000 $125,000 2004

$135,000
Reported

2002
$75,000

$0 $30,000 $60,000 $90,000 $120,000 $150,000
Median Loss

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