Page 166 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

The Perpetrators

The Effect of Collusion

While the preceding data has illustrated how schemes worked based on factors related to the principal perpetrator of each
fraud, it is important to remember that many frauds involve collusion among one or more persons. Nearly 40% of all cases
in this Report involved some form of collusion — either several employees within the victim organization, or employees
of the victim conspiring with one or more outsiders. Our data show that frauds involving multiple perpetrators tend to be
much more costly than those committed by a single individual.

Number of Perpetrators

Number of Perpetrators (percent of cases) (39.7%) $100,000 $485,000
Two or
more

One
(60.2%)

$0 $100,000 $200,000 $300,000 $400,000 $500,000
Median Loss

ACFE Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse