Page 545 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Perpetrators

Perpetrator’s Education Level
Losses also tend to correlate with education, as shown in Figure 86. Fraud perpetrators with a university degree caused
a median loss of $200,000, and those with a postgraduate degree caused a median loss of $300,000. These figures were
significantly higher than the losses caused by less educated fraudsters. This discrepancy might be another factor that
is heavily influenced by the fraudster’s position of authority. More than 70% of those with university or postgraduate
degrees in our study were either managers or owner/executives, while those without a university degree were much
more likely to have lower-level jobs.

Figure 86: Education Level of Perpetrator—Frequency and Median Loss

$350,000 50%
47.3%
$300,000 45%
$300,000
40%
$250,000 35%
MEDIAN L OSS $200,000 22.5% $200,000 25% PERCENT OF CASES
30%

$150,000
20%
$120,000
$100,000 $90,000 16.5% 15%
10.1% 13.2% 10%
$50,000
5%
$0 0%
High School Graduate or Less Some University University Degree Postgraduate Degree

EDUCATION LEVEL OF PERPETRATOR
Median Loss Percent of Cases

REPORT TO THE NATIONS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD AND ABUSE 61