Profiling Fraudsters

General strain theory is used to explain why individuals commit crime and outlines stress and strain as the main causes of people turning to criminal activity (McGivern, 2010). However to explain the turning of a group of individuals to turn to crime differential association theory is used and it states that people learn how to commit crime through influences of others through social interactions (Bosiakoh, 2012). Therefore I would be inclined to agree with the statement that Creesey’s fraud triangle addresses both of these. This is because his fraud triangle encompasses the need for pressure i.e. stress or strain, along with opportunity, which also relates to the influences of other people and how they interact around the work place, and rationalism which relates to the back story and why an individual or group committed fraud (De Kiewit, 2014).

Similar to most people who most commonly break speed limits there is usually motivation behind it, whether that is that we are running late or that we are in a hurry. The same is used when people commit fraud they are usually under financial pressure, such as a declining economy or a financial crisis may be some of the reasons why fraud is on the rise. Another reason could be that there are more opportunities, with a large proportion of Australia’s being small businesses they could have little internal controls and procedures and may be leaving a door open for potential fraud, similar to when my siblings leave cash on the side, I have the opportunity to take it and there’s a good likelihood they won’t even notice. I would therefore agree with the statement that Creesey’s triangle addresses both of the other theories.

References

McGivern, Michaela Siobhan. "The impact of cognitive coping on the strain-delinquency relationship: a test of general strain theory."

MA (Master of Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2010.

http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/550.

Bosiakoh, T. (2012). Differential Association Theory. In Encyclopaedia of the sciences and learning. Springer US.

De Kiewit, M. (2014). Preventing Fraud: Behavioural Factors in the Fraud Triangle. Expert Blog. Retrieved from http://blog.kpmg.ch/preventing-fraud-behavioral-factors-fraud-triangle/