Report: 84% of fraudsters show at least one behavioral red flag

The ACFE's Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations examined various aspects of occupational fraud cases, including how frauds are committed and detected, details about perpetrators, and the responses by and impact on organizations worldwide.

Key Takeaways:

• The fraud cases highlighted in Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations caused total losses of more than $3.4 billion.
• The report shows that longer-tenured, college-educated male employees are more likely to commit fraud at their workplace, but the gender divide is starting to shrink in terms of fraud losses.
• Smaller businesses experience the highest median losses of all organization sizes, but larger organizations with more than 10,000 employees is a close second.

AUSTIN, Texas (May 12, 2026) – Fraudsters who display at least one behavioral red flag, such as financial troubles or living beyond their means, cause higher median losses compared to fraudsters who do not show any. This is just one of the findings from Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations, the latest edition of the biennial study from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

"Prevention is so valuable in combatting any type of fraud, and within workplaces, fraud prevention must be a collaborative effort across employee levels," said ACFE Chief Executive Officer, John Warren, J.D., CFE. "Part of fraud prevention is knowing what to look out for, and this report provides a big picture of the different aspects of occupational fraud and its impacts."

The Report to the Nations is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive study on occupational fraud. This year's edition examines 2,402 cases of occupational fraud investigated by Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) across 143 countries.

Key findings from the report include (all figures in USD):

• CFEs estimate that 5% of revenue is lost to fraud each year.
• The median fraud loss per case in the study was $104,000, but the average loss per case was $1,457,000. 20% of cases in the study had losses of more than $1 million.
• A typical fraud case lasted 12 months before detection. In this year’s study, 43% of frauds were detected after a tip was reported, and more than half of those tips came from employees.
• 68% of fraudsters were terminated by their employers, while 54% of the cases examined were referred to law enforcement.

This year's report also spotlights fraud in banking and financial services (the industry most represented by this study's cases), an examination on how cryptocurrency is used in committing fraud, the effectiveness of providing fraud awareness training to employees at all levels of an organization, fraud concealment methods and more. 

30 Years of the Report to the Nations: 

As 2026 marks 30 years since the very first edition of the report was published, this year's edition also compares data and trends with those from 1996's Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, providing a unique insight into how occupational fraud has been investigated over the last three decades.

"The world has changed so much in the last 30 years, and fraud has evolved with it," said Warren. "Some aspects of the occupational fraud landscape have stayed the same over the years, but there have also been some staggering increases."

Corruption has risen significantly since 1996 to now, up from 10% to 45% of cases. Median fraud losses by organization size have remained mostly consistent, with small businesses and large corporations continuing to face the most fraud losses, and tenured fraudsters causing more financial damage.

Meanwhile, the gender divide between fraudsters has shifted. The percentage of female perpetrators grew from 25% to 28% in the cases observed in each study. However, the gap in median fraud losses between these two groups has shrunk, reinforcing the knowledge that fraud can be committed by any employee within an organization.

There has also been a shift in the tenure of fraud perpetrators at organizations. In 1996, staff-level employees were more likely to commit fraud (58%), followed by managers (30%) and owners-executives (12%). In 2026, both employees and managers committed fraud in 41% of cases, while 16% of fraudsters were found to be owners/executives.

Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations is available for download at ACFE.com/RTTN. 

About the ACFE

Founded in 1988 by Dr. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, the ACFE is the world's largest anti-fraud organization. Together with more than 95,000 members, the ACFE works to reduce business fraud worldwide and inspire public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession.

Contact the ACFE

For more information, email PR@ACFE.com.