A direct quote from President Trump; If we got rid of 50% of the fraud in our system, we would have a balanced budget.  That does not count the waste, abuse, and misallocations of money based on the entrenched bureaucratic deep state. 

1.  Financial Statement Fraud: The Costliest but Least Common Form

Financial statement fraud accounts for only ~5% of cases globally—yet it produces the highest median loss at ~$766,000 per incident, according to the ACFE’s 2024 Report to the Nations.

Case Study: Long‑Running Financial Manipulations (Global Examples)

The ACFE report highlights that financial statement schemes often involve executives or high-level managers who hold the power to manipulate reporting over long periods, allowing losses to accumulate quietly for years.  These cases are consistently linked with:

• High capability and access (Fraud Diamond attributes).
• Rationalizations framed as “protecting the company.”
• Weak internal controls—half of the cases involve control gaps or overrides.
• These patterns mirror notorious historical cases (e.g., Enron, WorldCom).  While the article does not explicitly cite them, the ACFE data confirms that these mechanisms remain standard features of modern fraud events.

2.  Asset Misappropriation: Most Common, Often Hidden in Plain Sight

Making up 89% of all occupational fraud cases, asset misappropriation typically causes smaller—but far more frequent—losses, with a median of $120,000 per case.

Case Study: Everyday Theft and Misuse Within Organizations

The most frequent schemes include:

• Billing fraud and theft of non-cash assets (each responsible for 22% of cases).
• Corruption overlays are present in nearly half of the cases.

In many organizations, these schemes are enabled by:

• Override of controls by managers, or
• Collusion among employees (a key element of the Fraud Hexagon).

The ACFE notes that losses increase with employee tenure, demonstrating how normalizing small abuses over time can evolve into major misconduct.

3.  The Rise of Consumer & Imposter Scams: The “United States of Fraud” Trend

Case Study: Record-Setting Consumer Losses

The FTC reported $12.5 billion in consumer fraud losses in 2024, a 25% year‑over‑year increase, even though the number of reports stayed steady.

Key scam types driving the surge:

• Investment scams: $5.7 billion in losses.
• Imposter scams: $2.95 billion in losses.

These reflect a fraud culture spreading beyond corporate boundaries into consumer life—fueled by digital payment methods, AI-driven impersonation, and social media scam channels.

4.  Return Fraud: Normalized Consumer Misconduct

Case Study: Retail Return Abuse Becoming Routine

The National Retail Federation’s 2025 Retail Returns Landscape found:

• 9% of all returns are fraudulent,
• 45% of consumers admit believing it’s acceptable to “bend the rules” when returning items.

Common abuse includes:

• Wardrobing,
• Bracketing and false claims,
• Returning different items than purchased.

This case is a powerful example of the cultural normalization of small frauds, which mirror the corporate-level moral disengagement observed in organizational research. 

5.  Wire Fraud Attempt Stopped by “Stop, Call, Confirm” Verification

Case Study: Callback Verification Prevents a Compromised Email Fraud

Prism Bank documented a real case in which:

• A customer submitted what appeared to be a legitimate wire request.
• The bank initiated its mandatory callback procedure.
• During verification, the customer realized the bank name was wrong—their email had been compromised and instructions altered by a fraudster.
• The callback prevented the fraudulent transfer.

This case demonstrates the power of EFM-aligned verification controls and the importance of transaction friction in high-risk environments.

6.  Elder Exploitation & Authorized Push Payment (APP) Fraud

Case Study: Banks Unable to Stop Authorized Transfers—Until New Laws

AARP reports the story of a 79-year-old woman who withdrew $165,000 and mailed it to criminals posing as federal agents after being threatened.  Her bank could not legally block the transactions because they were “authorized.” New “report‑and‑hold” laws (e.g., in Florida) now permit banks to pause transfers to protect vulnerable customers.

This case shows:

• Fraudsters’ mastery of psychological pressure,
• Gaps in consumer protection policy,
• The role of regulatory reform in combating exploitation.

7.  Organizational Moral Disengagement Case Evidence

Case Study: Volkswagen Emissions Scandal (Referenced in Research)

Academic research on organizational moral disengagement cites Volkswagen as a prime example of:

• Collective suspension of ethical judgment,
• Misleading testing procedures,
• Collaborative concealment across teams.

This case illustrates how “good people in bad systems” can normalize fraud to serve perceived organizational goals, thereby directly reinforcing the culture-of-fraud framework.

8.  Multi-Perpetrator Fraud & Fraud Rings

Case Study: Collusive Schemes in Occupational Fraud

ACFE research shows that frauds involving three or more perpetrators produce median losses 4x higher than those in single-perpetrator cases.  These include:

• Coordinated theft rings,
• Vendor‑employee kickback schemes,
• Multi-level internal collusion networks.

Such schemes thrive in weak-control environments where accountability is diffuse—echoing the structural vulnerabilities within the Fraud Hexagon.

Together, these examples illustrate that fraud:

• Is systemic, not episodic,
• Thrives where pressures, weak controls, and rationalizations align,
• Damages institutions, consumers, and economic trust,
• And can be dramatically reduced through EFM practices, ethical leadership, and verification protocols like Stop, Call, Confirm.