Where Are You on the Fraud Fighting Spectrum?

We frequently give and receive feedback. You can thrive from feedback if you are willing to receive it, accept it, and make changes. We all enjoy receiving positive feedback, but constructive (e.g., negative) feedback is tough to receive. However, it has provided the biggest impact on my career growth. As I get older, I become more self-aware of my actions, and self-assessments are a great way for me to be proactive about feedback.

This blog will help you perform a fraud fighting self-assessment. It will also help you assess others around you. There are six categories along the fraud fighting spectrum. If you are reading this blog, then you will easily score in one of the highest three categories. As you assess yourself and others, think about actionable items that will help you and others move up the spectrum.

The following category descriptions will help you determine where you are on the spectrum:

1. Of course, fraudsters are in a league of their own. These people have a working knowledge of fraud because they are developing their deception and manipulation skills on a daily basis. By using their skills, they are taking advantage of the system to result in financial or personal gain.
2. The clueless contributor category probably has the most people out of all the other categories. A person in this category is one who unknowingly supports a fraudster. They are naïve and would blindly trust someone who could be a fraudster. They may or may not have some knowledge of fraud, but even if they had some knowledge of fraud, they would never believe it could happen within their organization. Please try to move people from this category to the amateur category (see number 4 below) by teaching them about fraud and trying to figure out a way to spark their interest in fighting it.
3. <Spectators are an interesting group because they believe fraud happens and know that it could happen within their organization, but they still choose to do nothing about it. They can justify their lack of action by believing if it did happen, the impact would be minimal or if they tried to stop it, it would happen anyway or the cost to stop it would be greater than the cost of the fraud losses. Whatever the reason, they are able to rationalize their behavior the same way fraudsters are able to rationalize their behavior. In order to move these individuals to the amateur category, please continue to discuss the risk of fraud with them and invite them to participate in training sessions and encourage them to network with other professionals.
4. The amateur category contains people who have a basic understanding of fraud and the risks of fraud, but they haven’t figured out exactly how to use this knowledge in their daily jobs. There is also a spark of interest that can become a flame to fuel a long-term fight against fraud. These individuals are interested in learning more about fraud because they know the more they learn the more effective they will be at fighting fraud and implementing future change. They can impact certain processes and procedures, but may not have the ability to make changes within the organization.
5. A contender is a person who has dedicated their career to fighting fraud within their organization and frequently provides guidance to others inside and outside of their organization. I put myself in this category. They can significantly influence the culture of an organization and encourage others to help them in the fight against fraud. They are able to share “war stories” about fraud and will frequently present to others about the topic of fraud. There are only a few special people who will move from this category to the next and that is a great thing because it means that the contenders of the world will never stop learning or fighting!
6. World-class fighters are few and far between. These are the people who lead the fraud fighting profession. They are household names within the fraud fighting community. Here I would put the late Donald R. Cressey, who developed the Fraud Triangle, and Dr. Joseph T. Wells, founder of the ACFE.

As mentioned previously, you should develop actionable items to help you move up the spectrum. Sharing this blog with others is one way to help you move up a notch on the fraud fighting spectrum. You can also help others become more self-aware which can increase the number of fraud fighters in the world. 

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