Fraud Examination - Ch 10: Inquiry Methods & Fraud Reports

Interviewing

The most common technique used to investigate & resolve fraud. Systematic questioning of individuals who have knowledge of a case under investigation.

Interviews help obtain:

• Info that establishes essential elements of the crime

• Leads for developing cases and gathering evidence

• Cooperation of victims and witnesses

• Info on the personal backgrounds and motives of witnesses

3 Types of interviewees:

• Friendly - Go above and beyond what is expected to be helpful

• Neutral - Have nothing to gain or lose from the interview

• Hostile - Often associated with the suspect or the crime

Crisis Reaction Sequence:

1. Denial

2. Anger

3. Rationalization

4. Depression

5. Acceptance

Denial Stage

Psychological buffer reducing the stress for individuals receiving shocking news. People refuse to accept new info or insist that there has been a mistake.

Anger Stage

Arises when denial fails to return individuals to their psychological status quo

Rationalization Stage

Perps and managers both attempt to justify the dishonest act and/or minimize the crime

Depression Stage

Results from failure of attempts to resolve the problem and return to the status quo

Acceptance Stage

Managers and perps acknowledge what happened and desire to resolve the issue and move on

5 types of Interview questions

1. Introductory

2. Informational

3. Assessment

4. Closing

5. Admission Seeking

Informational Questions

Start the interview and get the respondent to agree to cooperate

Informational Questions

Fact gathering questions including open, closed, and leading types. Arranges in lofical sequence to maximize info obtained.

Assessment Questions

Hypothetical, nonaccusatory questions posed when the respondent is suspected of deception

Closing Questions

Confirm facts, seek new evidence, obtain goodwill

Admission Seeking Questions

Reserved for individuals whose culpability is resonably certain. Designed to clear an innocent person or encourage a culpable person to confess

Elements of Conversation

• Expression

• Persuasion

• Therapy

• Ritual

• Information Exchange

inhibitor

Any barrier that impedes the flow of relevant info. Makes respondents unable or unwilling to provide info

8 main communication inhibitors:

1. Competing Demands for Time

2. Threatened Egos

3. Etiquette

4. Trauma

5. Forgetting

6. Chronological Confusion

7. Inductive Inferential Confusion

8. Deductive Inferential Confusion

Competing demand for time

Respondents are hesitant to participate in an interview because they don’t believe it is the best use of their time

Threatened Egos

Respondents feel percieved threat to self-esteem due to repression, disapproval, or loss of status

Etiquette

Respondents are hesitant to answer questions they feel are inappropriate or in poor taste

Trauma

Interviewers must demonstrate sensitivity when discussing traumatic or potentially traumatic issue or events

Forgetting

Vividness of recall depends on the degree to which the interviewees ego is involves and fades with time elapsed because the event

Chronological Confusion

Respondents tendency to confuse the order of events

Inductive Inferential Confusion

The respondent is asked to convert a concrete experience to a higher level of generalization

Deductive Inferential Confusion

The respondent is asked to give concrete examples of certain categories of experience

Facilitators of Communication:

• Fulfilling Expectations

• Recognition

• Altruistic Appeals

• Sympathetic Understanding

• New Experience

• Catharsis

• Need for Meaning

• Extrinsic Rewards

Fulfilling Expectations

Interviewers should strive to transmit general expectations of cooperations and specific expectations of truthfulness.

Recognition

Interviewers should give respondents sincere recognition.

Altruistic Appeals

Interviewers who understand their respondent’s value system can appeal to their sense of altruism.

Sympathetic Understanding

Interviewers are more successful when they exhibit a sympathetic attitude toward the respondent.

New Experience

Interviewers must dispel any fears the respondent has about the interview, allowing respondents to view it as a new and interesting experience.

Catharsis

After respondents confess, they may feel better about themselves. Interviewers who carefully listen to respondents expressions of feelings encourage information sharing.

Need for Meaning

Interviewers can motivate respondents to talk through interview topics that disturb the respondent’s sense of meaning

Extrinsic Rewards

are helpful for respondents who see interview participation as a means to an end.

4 Categories of Nonverbal Cues

1. Proxemics

2. Chronemics

3. Kinetics

4. Paralinguistics

Proxemics

Respondents adjust their proximity to the interviewer in response to a pleasant or unpleasant topic.

Chronemics

pacing of questions and response time set by the interviewer

Kinetics

how body movements, including posture, facial expressions, and limb placement convey meaning

Paralinguistics

use of volume, pitch, and voice quality to convey meaning

4 Commonsense steps to take with difficult interviewees:

1. Don’t react

2. Disarm the person

3. Change tactics

4. Make it easy to say “yes”

Types of Honesy Testing

• Pencil and Paper Test

• Graphology (Handwriting)

• Voice stress analysis and polygraphs