Digital Forensics & The Fraud Triangle

This feature article is all about how many forensic software applications predict fraud and corruption using heuristics based on the Fraud Triangle. This article will discuss some of the pitfalls of these algorithms, and what forensic software applications can do to improve accuracy.

A conviction for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) carries severe consequences. Corporations as well as their offi cers, directors, stockholders and employees may be fi ned and imprisoned up to five years. In addition, convicted firms and associated stakeholders may be barred from doing business with the U.S. Federal Government. (United States Department of Justice) In the U.S. the FCPA bans bribing a government official to infl uence anyact or decision, and includes bribing an offi cial of a foreign government. In the UK, the Serious Fraud Offi ce (SFO) defines several types of corporate fraud. (Serious Fraud Office). The definitions span several “types” of fraud from corporate services, including false accounting, payments, travel, pay, allowances to gambling specifi c frauds like betting scams.