Page 609 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

PERPETRATORS

What does a typical fraudster look like?

We asked survey respondents to provide a broad range of information about
the fraud perpetrators they investigated, including the offenders’ conditions
of employment, basic demographics, prior misconduct, and behavior that
might have been warning signs of fraudulent activity. Our goal is to identify

common characteristics and risk profiles for those who commit occupational
fraud, which can help organizations better recognize fraud perpetrators or
those at risk for engaging in fraudulent activity.

Perpetrator’s Position FIG. 24 How does the perpetrator’s level of authority
relate to occupational fraud?
As seen in Figure 24, there is
a strong correlation between 44%
the fraud perpetrator’s level of
authority and the size of the
fraud. While owners/execu- 34%
tives only committed 19% of the
frauds in our study, the schemes
committed by these individuals
resulted in a median loss of USD PERCENT OF C A SES 19%
850,000, which was nearly six
times larger than the median
loss caused by managers, and 17
times larger than the median loss 3%
caused by low-level employees.
A significant correlation between Employee Manager Owner/executive Other
authority and fraud loss has
been found in every edition of $50,000
the report dating back to 1996.
This correlation likely reflects $150,000 $189,000
the fact that high-level fraudsters
tend to have greater access to
an organization’s assets than
low-level personnel. They may MEDIAN L OSS
also have greater technical
ability to commit and conceal
fraud, and they might be able to
use their authority to override or
conceal their crimes in ways that
low-level employees cannot. $850,000

Perpetrators Report to the Nations 33