What is Occupational Fraud?

Did you know that there are several different types of fraud?

Today, we're focusing on one in particular: Occupational Fraud.

Occupational fraud is generally committed by the employee of a company or organization, and it's further broken down into 3 separate categories:

• 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, or a misuse of influence over others, such as conflicts of interest, bribery and extortion

• 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝, like the manipulation of an organization's financial statements

  And the most common…

• 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, the wrongful use of an employer's assets (usually by an employee), including skimming and payroll fraud

When it comes to Occupational Fraud, there's no typical criminal profile, but in most cases, 3 basic factors are involved:

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 usually presents itself in the form of things like gambling debt, high medical bills or an excessive lifestyle. A surprising source of pressure can also come from the company itself and its high expectations of employee performance.

𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 most often occurs in the form of broken trust. Many companies require trusted employees to handle things like cash, but sometimes this results in individuals taking advantage of their position and violating that trust.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 is the reasoning or excuse someone uses to commit fraud, such as "I was going to pay it back" or "They won't miss the money".

If you suspect your company has been a victim of one of these malicious practices, our team can help track down the truth and work to recover lost funds. Contact us today!