Why Does Fraud Occur?

• Opportunity
• Motivation
• Attitude

An honest person with high integrity may commit fraud if there is enough motivation and high opportunity.

A person of low integrity may not commit fraud if there are strong controls and little opportunity for fraud.

An honest person who feels that they are underpaid and underappreciated may have the right attitude to rationalize fraud.

Keep in mind that everyone probably has a motivational point in which they could commit fraud – even if they deemed it “borrowing”.