Page 606 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Background Checks FIG. 20 Was a background check run on the perpetrator prior to hiring?
Effectively preventing fraud
Did the check reveal
begins with ensuring that existing red flags?
the organization hires ethical
Yes 10%
employees. As part of our
study, we examined whether
the victim organizations ran No 48% No 90%
a background check on the
perpetrator prior to hiring him
or her, as well as whether the
background check revealed
any potential indicators of the
employee’s dishonesty. As Yes 52%
noted in Figure 20, 52% of the
organizations ran background
checks, while 48% did not.
Of the organizations that did
run a check before hiring the
perpetrator, 10% were alerted
to a red flag regarding the
perpetrator but chose to hire FIG. 21 What types of background checks were run
the person anyway. on the perpetrator prior to hiring?

We also asked about the Employment history 78%
types of background checks Criminal checks 75%
used by the victim organiza- Reference checks 55%
tions in our study. Figure 21 Education verification 50%
shows that these organiza-
tions were most likely to look Credit checks 36%
into the individual’s employ- Other 4%
ment and criminal history, with
three-quarters or more of the
background checks covering
these areas.

30 Victim Organizations Report to the Nations