Fraudster personas

There are seven common methods or personas that fraudsters adopt when committing financial crimes.

The Counter Fraud Centre has identified seven personas to help you think like a fraudster. A persona is the character that is assumed by a fraudster, in line with the methods they use to commit a fraudulent act. For example, they may deceive a public official, impersonate another individual or fabricate evidence.

Knowing the methods commonly used by fraudsters is useful when planning counter fraud initiatives as it can provide additional insight into how a programme or organisation could be targeted. For example, it might be easier to pinpoint how a fabricator could exploit a business process than to ask employees to list all possible fraud risks for their business unit.

Fraudsters will often use a variety of methods from several different personas, so by understanding the range of methods used it can help to better recognise where they might target a government programme or function.

Seven common fraudster personas

To support fraud awareness and the development of fraud prevention initiatives for your organisation, explore the seven fraudster personas and the common methods they use.

All fraudster persona cards

The corrupt

Abuses their position of power to gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 144 KB]

Example of corrupt actions

Public service employees or officials who misuse their position of power to receive gifts.
Public service employees or officials who misuse their position of power to award government contracts.
Public service employees or officials who manipulate a process to pay a relative or friend more than other similarly suited people.

Red flags to look out for

Purchasing goods or services with no obvious business need.
Over-inflated invoices or invoices that cannot be matched to any output.
Continued acceptance of substandard goods or services despite complaints being made.

The deceiver

Misleads another to dishonestly gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 121 KB]

Example of deceiver actions

An individual who misrepresents facts or circumstances to receive a benefit.
An individual who withholds key information to get increased payments.
A vendor who withholds critical information to influence the award of a contract.

Red flags to look out for

Individuals who do not answer questions. People do not like to lie and will usually try to avoid answering a question before answering with a lie.
Lack of detail on application documentation, only providing the bare minimum information or no information at all.
Withdrawal of an application when additional information is requested.

The enabler

Knowingly helps a fraudster to dishonestly gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 153 KB]

Example of enabler actions

An individual who approves an expense claim for another person knowing that the expense does not comply with the expense policy.
An individual who approves a grant knowing that the applicant is using a false identity.
An individual who processes a vendor invoice, knowing that the invoice includes fraudulent charges.

Red flags to look out for

Approving high volumes of payments to a supplier when you would expect a low volume of invoices.
Using vendors that are not on the authorised vendor list.
Business activities that are targeted to specific individuals.
Leaders proceeding with high-risk decisions outside the business risk appetite.

The exploiter

Abuses system flaws to gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 113 KB]

Example of exploiter actions

An individual who splits a purchase into smaller contracts to keep it within their delegated authority to benefit a vendor.
An individual who accesses permission to change their salary in the payroll system.
An individual who exploits vulnerabilities to apply for emergency relief when they know they are not entitled to receive it.

Red flags to look out for

Staff who have systems access which is broader than what their role requires.
Inconsistent head count numbers between staff count and payroll processing systems.
Multiple change requests for vendor contracts.

The fabricator

Creates false information to dishonestly gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 130 KB]

Example of fabricator actions

An individual creates fake documents, for example property titles, to receive a mortgage for their business.
A staff member falsifies receipts, for example restaurant receipts, to support a false expense claim.
A trustee invents documents, for example financial statements, to qualify for funding.

Red flags to look out for

Documents with inconsistent formatting, for example font type, size, and/or colour, misalignment of text.
Documents with obvious omissions of information which would normally be expected on a document.
Incorrect corporate information, such as logo, contact details, misspelled names and physical address.

The impersonator

Takes on another’s identity to dishonestly gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 121 KB]

Example of impersonator actions

An individual who poses as a vendor to divert a payment.
An individual who uses stolen identities to receive a fraudulent payment.
An individual who poses as an employee to authorise a transaction.

Red flags to look out for

Email communication that does not sound like typical emails you may have received from the company in the past.
Multiple funding applications from the same IP address.
Email request demanding urgent payments be made.

The organised

Fraudsters who work together to dishonestly gain a benefit for themselves or others

[PDF, 130 KB]

Example of organised actions

An individual that collaborates with multiple people to submit fabricated documents to secure fraudulent mortgages.
A group of people that collaborate with an accountant to falsify business records to receive grant funding.
A group of people that collaborate with individuals to use stolen identities to apply for funding.

Red flags to look out for

A vendor that was created shortly before or after a contract was awarded.
Excessive amount of missing information about applicants who received funds.
Procedural or computer-system inquiries or transactions that are inconsistent with the user’s normal duties.

Fraudster personas title card and poster

Using the fraudster personas

There are several ways to use the fraudster personas to enhance your organisation’s fraud response.

Identify fraud risks

Individuals who have not been exposed to fraud can find it difficult to recognise fraud risk and pinpoint where fraud might occur. By understanding the methods of each persona, employees can better identify how a fraudster might target a business process or unit. A good method to describe a fraud risk is to consider who is committing the fraud (the actor), how they are doing it (the action) and what the result is (the outcome).

Fraudsters will often use several different personas to gain a benefit from an organisation. For example, they may lie to an employee (the deceiver), pretend to be someone else (the impersonator) or create false documentation (the fabricator).

Implement and assess countermeasures

Once you have identified fraud risks, it is important to mitigate them using countermeasures. Countermeasures can be used to prevent, detect and respond to the identified risks, and are important to help limit the opportunities for fraudsters to commit fraud.

The fraudster personas can be used to identify and implement countermeasures that specifically target the actions of a persona. Because fraudster personas display particular behaviours and use specific methods to succeed, being able to recognise them can help to identify targeted countermeasures.

Increase fraud awareness

Fraud awareness is about raising the profile of counter fraud activities in an organisation. It also encourages employees to help prevent fraud and report suspicious behaviours they might see when performing their roles.

Fraud awareness is one of the most effective tools to prevent fraud. Almost half of fraud is detected by tip-offs and more than half of those tip-offs come from employees. More than three times as many cases were detected through tip-offs than internal audit, which is the next most common detection method.

Design fraud resilient programmes

Fraudster personas are not only useful to teams directly dealing with fraud prevention, such as those working in risk or finance, but also for policy teams. The personas can be used to design fraud resilient programmes and functions by highlighting the common tactics used by fraudsters.

Using fraudster personas alongside other policy design tools, such as business process mapping and customer journey mapping, can also help to identify how and where non-compliant clients, employees or service providers might be able to undermine the policy or programme outcomes and commit fraud against an organisation.

Video about the deceiver, fabricator and impersonator

Download the full guide

Being able to recognise the fraudster personas is a useful tool for people responsible for developing, implementing and improving your organisation’s counter fraud strategy and approach. For in-depth information on the fraudster personas and how to use them, download the full guide.

Guide to fraudster personas (PDF 662 KB)

Fraudster personas

Seven common fraudster personas

Using the fraudster personas

Identify fraud risks

Implement and assess countermeasures

Increase fraud awareness

Design fraud resilient programmes

Video about the deceiver, fabricator and impersonator

Download the full guide

More information