What a Fraud Examiner Does and How to Become One in 2027

A fraud examiner looks into suspected fraud and works out what happened. You gather records, run the numbers, interview witnesses and suspects, and write a report that a manager, a lawyer or a jury can follow. Banks, insurers, regulators and accounting firms hire for the work. Most people start with a bachelor’s degree and learn the craft on the job.

What Does a Fraud Examiner Do All Day?

O*NET’s task list describes the job in one line: obtain evidence, take statements, produce reports and testify about fraud allegations. You’ll spend most of your time reading, writing and answering email, with a few high-stakes conversations in between. In O*NET’s survey of workers, 92 percent said they use email every day, and 71 percent said they work a 40-hour week.

One case tends to move through the tasks O*NET lists.

O*NET lists 23 tasks in all. Some of them, such as field surveillance, serving subpoenas and making arrests, belong to only a few employers. That’s a clue that “fraud examiner” covers a wide range of jobs, which brings us to the title itself.

Is Fraud Examiner an Official Job Title?

Employers use it all the time. The federal data doesn’t. The BLS counts people who do this work inside other groups, and O*NET files them as Fraud Examiners, Investigators and Analysts. Its sample of reported job titles includes Certified Fraud Examiner, Financial Investigator, Fraud Analyst and Special Investigations Unit Investigator. It also lists Casino Gaming Regulator and Anti-Fraud Operations Analyst.

The BLS does have a close cousin called financial examiners, and the two are easy to mix up. Use this table to keep them straight.

The line between the first and third rows comes from a 2003 Journal of Accountancy profile. It says fraud examinations cover only antifraud matters and can be done by accountants or non-accountants. It’s old, but the distinction still helps when you read postings. You can see how the accountant side of the field reads in our forensic accountant career guide, and the data side in our fraud analyst guide.

Because the BLS has no fraud examiner line, the pay figures use financial examiners, the closest match. Many fraud examiners work under other titles, so treat those numbers as a guide, not a promise.

Where Do Fraud Examiners Work?

The ACFE says people in forensic roles work in accounting-firm forensic divisions, consulting firms, law firms, law enforcement agencies, insurance companies, government organizations and financial institutions.

Banks and Regulators

Banks hire people to investigate fraud against customers and the bank. They also have to follow the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires them to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, report cash transactions over $10,000 and report suspicious activity. That reporting creates steady work for you to grow into, and we cover those jobs in our guides to the anti-money laundering analyst and the financial crimes investigator.

Regulators sit on the other side of the desk. A Risk Management Financial Institution Specialist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) joins a team that analyzes a bank’s financial condition, risk management and internal controls, then recommends corrective action. The FDIC says its training can take you to commissioned examiner within three and a half years.

Insurance Companies

Insurers run their own SIUs. GEICO describes its unit as a whole division whose sole mission is to detect, deter and defeat insurance fraud. The Hartford’s unit has investigators, a forensic data analytics team, and specialty teams for medical fraud and abuse, fire investigations and premium evasion.

If you’re coming from claims work, that’s a natural bridge. GEICO says its unit is staffed mainly by people with law enforcement experience and insurance knowledge. One note on the wider picture: the BLS projects claims adjuster, examiner and investigator jobs to shrink 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, so the insurance route rewards people who bring investigation or data skills.

Accounting, Consulting and Law Firms

Public accounting firms and consultancies take on fraud cases for companies, boards and law firms. The ACFE’s forensic accountant career path lists tracing funds, identifying assets for recovery, analyzing financial data and preparing reports.

It also points out how fraud work differs from audit work. Auditors take a consistent, standardized approach, while someone looking for fraud has to decide which areas, people or functions deserve attention, because fraud is usually hidden.

Government and Law Enforcement

Federal agencies hire people who can follow money. Every FBI forensic accountant attends a five-week core training session at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and you can read more in our FBI forensic accountant guide. IRS Criminal Investigation says its special agents combine accounting expertise with law enforcement skills to investigate tax and tax-related financial crimes, and our IRS special agent guide covers that path.

What Red Flags Do Fraud Examiners Watch For?

Part of the job is spotting people and patterns that deserve a closer look. The ACFE’s Occupational Fraud 2026 report draws on 2,402 usable cases of fraud by employees against their own employers, all reported by Certified Fraud Examiners. It lists behavioral red flags along with the median loss in cases where each one showed up.

None of these proves anything on its own. You use them to decide where to start asking questions. That’s why interviewing matters so much, which we’ll get to in a moment.

What Does a Fraud Examiner Need to Know?

The ACFE tests the field in three areas, and the exam’s outline doubles as a map of what the job draws on. The CFE Exam has three sections, and the ACFE lists the topics for each.

You don’t need the credential to use this map. If you can already do the middle row, you’re doing the job. If you want the exam details, our CFE page and CFE exam guide cover them so we don’t repeat them here.

How Do You Become a Fraud Examiner?

There isn’t one path, and that’s good news if you’re changing careers. Most people follow the same general route.

Step 1: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree

The BLS says financial examiners typically need a bachelor’s degree that includes some coursework in accounting. O*NET puts fraud work in Job Zone Four, where most people hold a four-year degree but some don’t. American Military University, which publishes a how-to guide for fraud analysts, lists finance, accounting, criminal justice, economics, information technology, cybersecurity, business administration and computer science as relevant majors.

The ACFE counts any field of study toward its points, so pick a subject you can finish well, then add accounting and investigation courses.

Step 2: Land a Job That Builds Fraud Experience

You don’t have to start with the title. The ACFE’s eligibility rules approve eight kinds of work as fraud-related experience.

A fraud risk manager who is a CFE described his own start in a 2023 Reddit r/AMA thread: “I had a good analytical background but no fraud or banking experience. I had a manager willing to take a risk on someone who he thought could learn quickly.” If a role on this list is open to you, take it, then keep asking for fraud cases.

Entry-level regulator jobs have their own bar. A recent FDIC announcement for entry-level specialists asked for at least 24 semester hours of business, accounting, finance or similar coursework, including at least 6 in accounting, plus a 3.0 grade point average or another qualifying marker. Read the announcement for the full list.

Step 3: Add the Credential When It Fits

The CFE is the credential most closely tied to the job. The ACFE’s point system works like this: you need 40 points to sit the exam and 50 points plus two years of fraud-related experience to earn the credential. Each full year of study counts toward points, and no field of study is required.

You can take the exam before you hit the experience mark, which makes a degree plus a first job a workable route. Our CFE salary guide and fraud examiner salary guide look at what the credential does for pay.

Step 4: Consider a Graduate Degree Built for the Work

You can also study the job directly. We track programs that teach it, listed in our master’s in fraud examination list and our list for CFE exam prep. Of the 65 programs we track, 40 are fully online, so you can study while you work.

Which Degree Programs Prepare You for Fraud Examination?

Programs differ a lot, so match the one you pick to the job you want. These examples show the range, and each one comes from the school’s own program details.

West Virginia University runs an online Master of Science in Forensic and Fraud Examination built on a national curriculum the university developed for the National Institute of Justice. Students defend their findings in a moot court with real attorneys.

A graduate who became a bank examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) told My Buckhannon: “Getting to do the coursework at WVU, I was exposed to different types of financial fraud. I know I’ll be able to apply the skills I’ve learned in my day-to-day job.”

Saint Xavier University offers an online MBA in Fraud Examination and Management taught by faculty that include certified public accountants (CPAs), CFEs and licensed attorneys. The school says graduates work in accounting firms, private industry and agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service.

Southern New Hampshire University has a fully online bachelor’s in accounting with a forensic accounting and fraud examination concentration. Four concentration courses cover classic fraud types, financial statement fraud, fraud interviewing and the law, and investigating with computers. It costs $354 a credit across 120 credits.

Purdue University Global offers an online bachelor’s in accounting and analytics with a forensic accountancy concentration. Courses include Fraud and Forensic Accounting and Digital Forensics and Investigative Techniques, and the school offers military tuition reductions of 55 percent for current servicemembers and 38 percent for veterans.

York College of Pennsylvania teaches a fully online Master of Accounting in Fraud and Forensics that prepares you for the CPA, CFE and Certified Forensic Accountant credentials. The college is a partner in the ACFE’s Anti-Fraud Education Partnership.

For wider comparisons, see our full list of forensic accounting programs.

Which Skills Matter Most?

Interviewing is the skill people underrate. In the Journal of Accountancy profile, a partner at a New York firm who works fraud cases said, “Conducting proper interviews is a large part of being an effective fraud examiner.” If you like spreadsheets better than people, practice early, because you’ll do plenty of both.

If you’re weighing your own strengths, the BLS names four qualities for financial examiners that carry over: analytical skills, attention to detail, math skills and writing skills.

Reports are a big part of the work. You’ll need to explain technical findings clearly to readers who aren’t accountants, so practice writing. O*NET also shows that 63 percent of workers say being exact or accurate is extremely important in the job.

How Much Does a Fraud Examiner Earn?

You’ve got two fair reference points. Financial examiners, the closest match, had a median of $94,160 a year in May 2025. The BLS group where O*NET files fraud examiners, Financial Specialists, All Other, had a median of $81,100 in the same survey. The state table below shows financial examiner pay by state.

Our fraud examiner salary guide breaks the numbers down by employer, federal pay grade and credential, so you can see what moves them.

What Are the Downsides of the Job?

You should know the hard parts before you commit. The BLS says entry-level financial examiners learn their duties under senior examiners, and training typically lasts more than a year. Examiners frequently travel to inspect banks onsite. And the CFE exam has three separate timed sections, so plan your study time.

The field also doesn’t have a single front door. Titles vary, and the strongest preparation is often experience you build before the title shows up. That’s fine if you plan for it.

Where Can the Career Go Next?

Fraud examination connects to a lot of neighbors. If you like the data side, look at fraud analyst jobs. If you like case work, read about the fraud investigator. If you want the accounting side, the forensic accountant guide is next. And if you want to compare the credential with the CPA, our CFE versus CPA guide lays out the trade-offs.