Marquet International, (http://www.marquetinternational.com) have issued a fraud study on embezzlement in the United States. For the purpose of this report, embezzlement is defined as ——the misappropriation of assets by an employee or agent of a company or organization for his or her own purposes. This report studies a variety of critical factors related to the alleged perpetrator and the circumstances in each case, such as age, sex, employment position, duration of scheme, prior criminal history, geography of incident and industry classification. The report also explores motivational issues, including gambling problems as well as whether the case involved a sole perpetrator or a conspiracy.
Summary of Key Findings
Employee misconduct and internal corporate fraud will be a continuing and growing problem as the U.S. economy continues to struggle. The seeds of future major embezzlements, yet to be discovered, are being sown in the current market environment.
Looking at the two years’ data on major embezzlements in the US, the following conclusions are presented:
- Women are more likely to embezzle than men.
- Men embezzle significantly more than women.
- Perpetrators typically begin their embezzlement schemes in their early 40s.
- By a significant margin, embezzlers are most likely to be individuals who hold financial positions within organizations.
- The two broad industry categories that have the highest risk for a major embezzlement are Financial Services and Government Agencies / Municipalities.
- The Financial Services industry suffers the greatest losses from major embezzlements.
- On average, major embezzlement schemes last about 4½ years.
- California and Florida are consistently the states that experience the greatest losses from major embezzlements.
- The vast majority of major embezzlements are caused by sole perpetrators
- Gambling is a clear motivating factor in driving some major embezzlements.
- Fewer than 10 percent of embezzlers have a criminal record – less than expected, but enough to suggest that pre-employment screening has merit.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, women are more likely to be perpetrators of major embezzlement schemes than men. However, men, who still tend who hold more senior level management positions, embezzle significantly more in their schemes than women.
Read more
http://www.marquetinternational.com/pdf/Report%20On%20Major%20Embezzlements%202008.pdf