I disagree that Cressey’s fraud triangle is an outdated approach. Although the fraud triangle is usually used to decipher emotional and psychological motives of an employee in an organisation (Morang, 2015), the same tool may also be applicable in comprehending why groups commit frauds, including cybercrimes.
Employees with the harbouring the same motives may collude and commit frauds. Applying the fraud triangle to the Wells Fargo’s scandal, employees colluded as they were pressurised with aggressive sales goals, they also had the opportunity due to weak internal controls and company’s failure to discipline fraudsters. Additionally, they can justify that it was a victimless crime and other colleagues were committing the same crime (Tippett, 2015).
Whereas for cybercrimes, organised gangs have the opportunity since they do not have to commit crimes in person (Peachey, 2015), their pressure could also be in the form of greed or personal debt, and they can rationalise that their chances of getting caught is low.
Organisations could make use of the following theories to understand why fraud, bribery and corruption are increasing. Differential association theory can help organisations understand how their employee could learn criminalistics behaviour just by interactions with someone with criminal tendency (Albrecht, 2014). A study conducted by Langton, & Piquero (2007) showed that General Strain Theory is a useful tool in predicting certain white-collar offenses such as bribery, embezzlement and credit fraud. Some red flags of fraud include internal control weaknesses as well as accounting and behavioural anomalies, thus, it is crucial for companies to involve employees at all levels in preventing, detecting and minimising the impact of fraud (Ratley, 2012).
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References
Albrecht, W. S. (2014). Iconic Fraud Triangle endures. Retrieved from Fraud Magazine: http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294983342
Langton, & Piquero. (2007). Can general strain theory explain white-collar crime? A preliminary investigation of the relationship between strain and select white-collar offenses. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(1), 1-15.
Morang, S. C. (2015). Does the Fraud Triangle properly address Cyber-Fraud? Retrieved from LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-fraud-triangle-properly-address-cyber-fraud-steve-morang
Peachey, P. (2015). Cyber crimes increase: Why the criminals get away with it. Retrieved from Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cyber-crimes-increase-why-the-criminals-get-away-with-it-a6696086.html
Ratley, J. D. (2012). Corporate Fraud Awareness in Today's Global Regulated Environment. Retrieved from Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc.: http://www.theiia.org/chapters/pubdocs/11/corporatefraudawarenesstoday_sglobalregulatedenvironment.pdf
Tippett, E. C. (2015). How Wells Fargo encouraged employees to commit fraud. Retrieved from The Conversation: http://theconversation.com/how-wells-fargo-encouraged-employees-to-commit-fraud-66615
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