Page 541 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Perpetrators

Perpetrator’s Gender
Among the cases in our 2016 study, 69% of fraud perpetrators were male and 31% were female. This is consistent with
gender distributions we have encountered in past studies; females have been responsible for between 30% and 35%
of frauds in every study since we began collecting global data (see Figure 79). To some extent, this probably reflects
the labor force itself. Men make up a larger portion of the global workforce than women, so we might expect them to
commit a larger portion of occupational frauds. However, workforce participation does not account for all the gender
11
differences in occupational fraud. Our study also explored how the perpetrator’s gender correlates with differences in
loss, scheme type, and behavioral indicators of fraud (see pages 58–59 and 71).

Figure 79: Gender of Perpetrator—Frequency 2014 2016
+
67
+
35 Female 33 Female 31 + A + 69 Female
A
A
+
+
65
2012
35.0%
33.2%
31.0%

Male Male Male
65.0% 66.8% 69.0%

Perpetrator’s Gender Based on Region
Figure 80 shows the gender distribution of fraud perpetrators based on the region in which the fraud occurred. The largest
imbalance was in Southern Asia, where nearly 97% of fraudsters were male, while the United States had the most even
distribution between males and females: men accounted for 55.7% of frauds, and women were responsible for 44.3%.

Figure 80: Gender of Perpetrator Based on Region

Southern Asia 96.8% 3.2%
Middle East and North Africa 90.3% 9.7%

Latin America and the Caribbean 88.2% 11.8%
Sub-Saharan Africa 82.3% 17.7%
REGION Eastern Europe and Western/Central Asia 79.2% 20.8%
Western Europe
79.1%
20.9%
Asia-Pacific 73.1% 26.9%

Canada 64.6% 35.4%
Male
United States 55.7% 44.3% Female
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
PERCENT OF CASES

11 A 2013 report by the World Bank estimated that females make up 40% of the global labor force. The World Bank, Gender at Work: A Companion to the World Development Report on Jobs
(www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Event/Gender/GenderAtWork_web2.pdf)

REPORT TO THE NATIONS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD AND ABUSE 57