CFE- Fraud-Investigations-and-Legal-Issues Premium Exam Questions

The Fraud Examiners Manual states that admission-seeking interviews should avoid yes/no questions like “Did you steal the money?” because they encourage denials. Instead, the question should be phrased as if guilt has already been established. The Manual explicitly warns:

“The accusation should be made in the form of a statement; it should not be made in the form of a question… Avoid emotive words such as steal, fraud, and crime… Example: ‘It is not so much a question of what you did, but why you did it.’”

Thus, the most effective admission-seeking phrasing is: “Why did you take the money?” because it presumes involvement and encourages explanation rather than denial.

The manual notes:

“Records subpoenaed in a criminal case usually are available only to the government during the investigation, and perhaps thereafter if not disclosed at trial”.

Thus, statement D is false.

The best practice is to explain that the informant must be willing to sign a receipt to be paid. The ACFE materials state that if a fraud examiner pays an informant or source, the examiner should obtain a receipt, and if the informant refuses to sign one, the examiner should not pay them. A receipt helps prevent later disputes about whether payment occurred or how much was paid. Option A is poor practice because informant identities should be protected as much as possible. Option C is too broad because relevant informant information might need to be documented. Option D is improper because using a third party to hide the payment trail weakens accountability and can create legal and ethical issues.

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 it complex.