Page 529 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020
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Victim Organizations
Background Checks
We also asked survey respondents whether the victim organization ran a background check on the perpetrator before
he or she was hired. The responses were fairly evenly split, with approximately 51% of organizations having conducted
background checks and about 49% not having done so.
More than 88% of the background checks conducted did not reveal any prior misconduct or red flags, which under-
scores our findings that the majority of perpetrators are not career criminals—that is, they are usually first-time offenders
(see Figure 92 on page 66 and Figure 93 on page 67) and typically do not take a job with the intention to defraud their
employer. However, roughly 11% of the background checks conducted did uncover at least one red flag (e.g., prior
criminal activity, employment issues, or financial problems) regarding the perpetrator—meaning that the organizations
who hired these individuals knew or should have known about potential issues but hired the person anyway.
Figure 61: Background Check Run on Perpetrator Before Being Hired
Yes No
50.9% 49.1%
6.6% 2.9%
Background Check
Revealed Red Flag(s)
11.2%
Background Check Did
Not Reveal Red Flag(s)
88.8%
REPORT TO THE NATIONS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD AND ABUSE 45
