2. Toe in the Water
One theory of fraud suggests that fraudsters begin their slippery slope into crime with a “test.”3 That is, they put together a fraudulent transaction or event and “float” it out into the entity’s environment to see if they can get away with the fraud. If that first instance gets noticed, the fraudster usually has a predetermined “excuse” for why it happened, often the “oops, I made a mistake” defense. If it goes unnoticed, the fraudster usually proceeds to the third item in this list.