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Getting started as a forensic interviewer

Conducting a forensic interview for the first time can be a nerve-racking experience. But with the right tools and resources, you can obtain vital firsthand information from those with knowledge of an alleged crime. 

Written By: Nicholas DiModica, CFE, CPA

    • Career and Professional Development
    • Fraud Investigation and Examination
    • Interviewing

Taking trauma into account

Interviews are essential to gathering detailed information during a fraud examination. But some interviews require special care, especially when it comes to victims of fraud. Trauma-informed interviewing practices take into account the emotional upheaval that fraud victims often face. In this article, the author explains why trauma-informed interviews are important and how their principles can be incorporated into interviewing practices.

Written By: Emily Homer, Ph.D., CFE

    • Fraud Investigation and Examination
    • Interviewing

Overcoming implicit bias in anti-fraud investigations

Everyone has personal biases, but letting these biases color our views of a suspect can affect the integrity of fraud investigations. Here we explain what unconscious biases are and what fraud examiners can do to overcome them.

Written By: Kate Pospisil, CFE

    • Career and Professional Development
    • Fraud Investigation and Examination
    • Interviewing

Fraud lessons from the ‘killer nurse’

Charles Cullen, a former registered nurse, is serving 11 consecutive life sentences for murdering 29 patients in 16 years at New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals. The author, who helped investigate the case, shares organizational deficiencies that have helped him in subsequent fraud investigations.

Written By: Barry Bittenmaster, CFE

    • Ethics
    • Interviewing
    • Investigation

When subjects admit guilt but they’re innocent

Why would someone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? Often an interviewer, trained to be accusatory and aggressive, will pressure subjects to admit guilt. Here’s how fraud examiners — rightfully constrained by higher ethics guardrails — can prevent false confessions that result in wrongful terminations and improper convictions, and ruin innocent subjects’ lives, while leaving the guilty free to commit additional crimes.

Written By: Beth Mohr, CFE

    • Interviewing

Analyze potential whistleblowers with these psychology profiles

Cultivating whistleblowers is harder work than persuading traditional interviewees to talk during an investigation. Use these profiles to categorize Victims, Avengers, Samaritans and Intellectuals.

Written By: Andrew Thompson, CFE

    • Criminology and Psychology
    • Interviewing

Adjusting to a new reality

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we work and provided an opportunity for fraudsters to scam the populace like never before. The ACFE Board of Regents looks back on its experiences and provides advice on how to fight fraud in this post-coronavirus landscape.

Written By: Paul Kilby, CFE

    • Fraud Schemes
    • Interviewing
    • Professional and Career Development

'Thin-slicing' experience

Intuition, sensitivity to nonverbal cues, pattern recognition — our brains are capable of rapidly processing information to help us make judgments and decisions. This ability is called “thin-slicing.” It can provide another tool for fraud examiners to follow their instincts to the truth but only when we use it properly and recognize its limitations.

Written By: Donn LeVie, Jr., CFE

    • Criminology and Psychology
    • Interviewing

Dealing with narcissistic interviewees

Interviewing narcissists during a fraud examination demand special skills. Here are some practical ways to interview those who have inflated self-perceptions and are missing solid self-esteem fundamentals.

Written By: Benjamin Schorn, CFE

    • Criminology and Psychology
    • Fraud Investigation and Examination
    • Interviewing

Mass-screening interview pivotal in targeting gunnery sergeant

At a U.S. military base, 2,400 rounds of government ammunition were missing. This NCIS special agent suspected a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, but he needed definite proof. The special agent used an unusual mass-screening interview to discover evidence that ultimately led to the gunnery sergeant’s conviction.

Written By: Daniel Wessel, CFE

    • Fraud Investigation and Examination
    • Government Fraud
    • Interviewing
    • Investigation

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