Colorado State University Global Master's Degree With a Fraud and Financial Crimes Specialization: Our 2027 Review

You get four online courses, 12 credits and a flat per-credit rate with no student fees, all attached to a master's degree you may already be planning. Classes start every month and each lasts eight weeks, so you can add fraud investigation skills without rearranging your life. The courses run from prevention and law through investigation to computer-assisted data analysis.

Colorado State University Global (CSU Global) is a fully online public university in the Colorado State University System, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. This graduate specialization travels with your master's degree. You add it to a CSU Global master's in Business Administration, Data Analytics, Finance or Management by taking extra upper-division courses, much like a minor.

The school designed it for professionals responsible for fraud investigation and prevention, and says it broadens your knowledge of the financial field. You'll learn to prevent fraud, investigate it after it occurs, use modern technology for data analysis and investigation, and understand the legal implications of fraud management. CSU Global also offers a separate Master of Professional Accountancy with a fraud investigations emphasis.

That's the accounting-degree route to similar topics.

CSU Global's business programs are accredited by ACBSP. The courses sit in criminal justice, which gives the specialization a legal and investigative flavor beside your business coursework. The program page describes a path for professionals responsible for fraud investigation and prevention.

The course content covers evidence, fraud reports, expert-witness testimony and prosecution, all topics that matter in compliance, investigation and audit roles. If the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential is your goal, the admissions team can show you how the four courses line up with it.

Where this degree can lead: Forensic Accounting Jobs, Certified Fraud Examiner Certification.

• If you're studying finance or management and want a fraud specialty, the specialization adds right onto those master's degrees.
• If you're data-minded and like the analytics side of fraud, one full course uses computer-assisted analytical techniques, including Benford's Law.
• You're in the group the program page says it was designed for if you already handle investigation or prevention.
• You won't have to plan around set class times or locations, which suits busy adults.
• If you like a published rate, your tuition stays the same from your first class to your last.

Four three-credit courses carry the specialization, and they're built to move you from why fraud happens to how you prove it. Fraud Examination and Prevention starts with the act of fraud itself: motivations, symptoms, prevention, detection and legal resolution. You'll also learn the types of evidence needed for fraud actions, what a fraud report requires and how fraud risk shows up in e-commerce.

Criminal Justice and Legal Concepts of Fraud gives you an overview of the legal systems that handle fraud. You'll see fraud as both a civil cause of action and a crime, plus criminal procedure, prosecution, legal remedies, and the role of the expert witness.

Fraud Investigation reviews types of fraud, the documents involved in a criminal investigation, sources of evidence and analysis of internal and external schemes. You'll examine a full range of investigative tools and techniques used in white-collar criminal cases.

Fraud Data Analysis closes the sequence with advanced fraud analytics. You'll use Benford's Law, analyze written statements and bank records, and look at investment swindles and con schemes. Together the four courses give you a working picture of a case from first red flag to courtroom.

Courses the School Names

• Fraud Examination and Prevention
• Criminal Justice and Legal Concepts of Fraud
• Fraud Investigation
• Fraud Data Analysis

Standout Features

• Classes start every month and every course runs 8 weeks
• Fraud Data Analysis course covers advanced fraud analytics such as Benford's Law, bank records and investment swindles
• Pairs with master's degrees in Business Administration, Data Analytics, Finance and Management

CSU Global lists graduate tuition at $675 per credit for 2026-27, with $0 in fees. It guarantees that your tuition rate stays the same from your first class to your last. The specialization adds four courses, 12 credits, to the master's degree you pair it with.

The school says its graduates report significant income increases, often recouping their investment within two years. You can ask the admissions team how the specialization fits into your degree plan and which aid options apply to you.

Every CSU Global course is eight weeks from beginning to end, and classes start every month, so you can begin when you're ready. There are no set times or locations, which means you complete coursework around your schedule. Four online courses make up the specialization.

You add them to your degree by taking additional upper-division courses, and the school compares a specialization to a minor or concentration that lets you examine an additional area of interest. The page lists Business Administration, Data Analytics, Finance and Management master's programs as natural pairings for you.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Which of the four master's degrees should I pair this with for my career goal?
• Do the 12 specialization credits add to the master's total, and how does that change my timeline?
• How does the Fraud Data Analysis course use software, and which tools do I need?
• What is the typical weekly workload in an eight-week course?
• Is there a recommended course order, or can I start with any of the four?
• How do the courses connect to the Certified Fraud Examiner exam?

A fully online public university in the Colorado State University System, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

• Best Forensic Accounting Programs Rank 16 of 27, master's
• Best Master's Programs Rank 16 of 27, master's
• Best Online Programs Rank 13 of 20, master's
• Fraud Examination Programs Rank 5 of 10, master's
• Accelerated Programs Rank 10 of 13, master's
• For Working Adults Rank 9 of 13, master's
• Public Universities Rank 9 of 11, master's

• Master of Professional Accountancy, Fraud Investigations and Forensic Accounting Emphasis

  M.P.Acc., Master's

  Fully Online $675 per credit Score 67.3

• Purdue University Northwest

  Master of Accountancy, Forensic Accounting Data Analysis Concentration

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• Seton Hill University

  Master of Business Administration, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination Specialization

  Pennsylvania $1,015 per credit Score 68.5

• Roosevelt University

  Master of Science in Accounting Forensics

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• Tiffin University

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  Ohio $755 per credit Score 65.6