Pass the ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner CFE-Investigation Questions and answers with ValidTests

“Introductory questions should be designed to establish rapport… Interviewers usually establish rapport by spending a few minutes with the respondent in an informal dialogue”.

Jason’s small talk about sports and compliments is clearly rapport building

Best practices when working with confidential informants include documenting payments and identities in ways that protect anonymity but avoid risks. TheFraud Examiners ManualandCFE Prepemphasize avoiding cash payments because they reduce transparency and create audit trail problems. Paying in cash is thereforeNOT considered a best practice, whereas using initials, obtaining receipts, and documenting informant information in reports can be acceptable methods.

Best practice for signed statements:

Fraud examiners should prepare the statement, keep it concise, and ensure voluntariness and intent are clear.

While not legally required, it isrecommendedthat two individuals witness the signing.✅Answer: C. Have two individuals witness the signing of the document when possible

TheFraud Examiners Manualexplains:

“Textual analytics is a method of using software to extract usable information from unstructured text data… it cancategorise data to reveal patterns, sentiments, and relationships indicative of fraud”.

This is the key reason fraud examiners analyze textual/unstructured data.

Duringadmission-seeking interviews, fraud examiners often employrationalization techniquesto help the suspect justify their misconduct and make it easier to confess. One of these rationalizations is thealtruistic appeal.

From the2014 International Fraud Examiners Manual:

“Facilitators of communication are those socio-psychological forces that make conversations, including interviews, easier to accomplish. These facilitators require a basic understanding of what motivates people. The facilitators are: fulfilling expectations, recognition,altruistic appeals, sympathetic understanding, new experience, catharsis, need for meaning, and extrinsic rewards.”

From theCFE Prep - Investigationsstudy guide:

“Facilitators of communication… include fulfilling expectations, recognition,altruistic appeals, sympathetic understanding, new experience, catharsis, need for meaning, and extrinsic rewards.”

????Application to Scenario:

Beta says:“I know you didn’t do this for yourself; it was for your family.”

This is aclassic altruistic appeal— reframing the suspect’s motive asselfless or for the benefit of others, rather than selfish wrongdoing.

The purpose is toreduce internal resistanceto confessing by allowing the suspect to rationalize the act as being for a noble reason.

“To locate people using online records… First, when searching for an individual, the fraud examiner should obtain a past address of the subject, and search activities should begin with that information”.

This aligns with the Prep guide: “Obtaining a past address of the subject should be the first step in trying to locate a subject using online records”.

Thus, B is correct.

Complex questions:

“consist of a series of interrelated questions… too complicated to be easily understood, cover more than one subject, or require more than one answer”.

The question asked by Delta (“Were you aware that the signature was forged, and why didn’t you tell anyone earlier?”) covers two issues, making itcomplex.

When introducing themselves, fraud examiners should avoid titles likeinvestigatororCertified Fraud Examinerthat might raise suspicion or defensiveness. TheManualrecommends using neutral titles such asauditorbecause it is less threatening and more acceptable in an organizational setting.

When dealing with potentially hostile or volatile interviewees, fraud examiners are advised not to give much advance notice. This reduces the chance that the subject will prepare evasive or combative responses. TheFraud Examiners Manualemphasizes minimizing preparation time for resistant interviewees to ensure more candid responses.