A slight ‘exaggeration’ of a tip left for a waiter at dinner with clients. A little bit of ’rounding up’ when you turn in your mileage report after a business trip. These expense claim fibs often seem isolated and fairly harmless to the employees that commit them. But in fact, these and other types of fraud quickly accumulate when they go unchecked, adding up to major losses. A recent study of 1,000 business travelers conducted by our partner, Chrome River, indicated that expense fraud costs US employers $2.8 billion per year. But the study found that overall, employees are honest about their on-the-job purchases, with 94 percent of survey respondents claiming to submit only valid expense claims. So who are the other 6 percent of employees, and how are they able to cause so much damage? The study paints a picture of fraud trends and perpetrators that may seem counterintuitive.

Males are much more likely to commit fraud, which in itself is not surprising considering crime rates in general are much higher for men than women, but the role these men play within their organizations is surprising. The most commonly reported job titles for fraudsters are SVP and C-level titles other than CEO, with an average age of 46. While many travel managers may concentrate on policing employees at lower levels with seemingly less commitment to an organization, this study reveals, more often the culprits are the team members who command our trust and respect.

Expense fraudsters most commonly claim personal purchases as business-related, and over claim their mileage expenses, among other tactics, averaging out to a whopping $2,448 each in false claims yearly. Only 17 percent of fraudsters claim to have ever been caught, but the good news is that there are methods to strengthen the expense management policies in organizations and make it much harder for fraudsters to take advantage of loopholes. To find out how to prevent fraud before it starts, register now for our free upcoming webinar, featuring Jimmy LeFever of PayStream Advisors and Dan Machock of Chrome River. Even if something comes up and you’re not able to make the live event, sign up now and we’ll email you when it’s available to watch on-demand.