About Fraud Investigator Jobs

Fraud occurs when someone misrepresents him or herself, occupation, or service to deceive another individual for personal gain. When a vendor knows that its advertisement for a certain product does not meet the need that it has promised, it is considered fraud. For example, a financial scam is when individuals say that they will invest other people's money and return huge earnings. A fraud investigator determines whether fraud has occurred and collects evidence to prove guilt.

introduction

Normally, an investigation begins when a wronged client meets with the investigator and explains why fraud is suspected. The client gives the investigator any evidence that can be used to find additional information. The fraud investigator may then use a variety of means of gaining more input, such as computer searches, surveillance, background checks, asset searches, employee investigations and business investigations.

Types

As with most careers, there are a number of different kinds of fraud investigators. Individuals who work in Insurance fraud, for instance, look for people who have made false claims, such as a car accident, to collect insurance money. Likewise, there are always some insurance companies who deny claims when the individual has a legitimate right to those funds.

Business Crime

In all companies, there are always individuals who lie and claim they were injured on the job to collect workers' compensation. Millions of dollars are lost every year because of false claims. In addition, every year companies lose billions of dollars because of white-collar crime, in which employees embezzle money from their company or commit other fraudulent acts against the organization. As with the insurance field, there are also organizations that owe employees money for an accident and have never paid.

Education

Individuals who become fraud investigators, either on their own or working for a company or organization, usually have had several years of experience as an investigator with a criminal justice agency, the armed forces or the private sector, such as at an insurance firm. Three years of this on-the-job learning must have included field work. Normally the investigators have a college degree in a related area, such as criminal justice, business administration, insurance, accounting, public administration or law.

Certification

After receiving experience in their field, fraud investigators may want to further their credentials by becoming a certified fraud examiner (CFE). This is one of the leading certifications for anti-fraud professionals around the world. CFEs specialize in fraud deterrence, surveillance and investigation and acquire a large number of skills that qualify them as experts in their field.