CFE-Investigation Exam Dumps - ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner Questions and Answers

Before pursuing litigation, fraud examiners are advised to consider whether nonlegal remedies (e.g., restitution agreements, settlements, insurance recovery) are possible, since legal actions can be costly, slow, and uncertain. Statutes of limitation and guilt are legal issues for attorneys and courts, but examiners must weigh recovery options first.

Explanation with Extracts = The Fraud Examiners Manual explains:

“Forensic analysis should not be performed on suspect devices directly because doing so can alter or damage digital evidence, and imaging the data… allows a fraud examiner to view and analyse the contents of a computer without altering the original data in any way”.

Imaging creates an exact, sector-by-sector copy of the drive.

Thus, imaging protects original data integrity.

The Manual says admission-seeking interviews should be conducted only when:

There is reasonable probability the subject committed the act,

All other reasonable investigative steps are complete, and

“The interviewer can reasonably control the place, time, and subject matter of the interview.”.Therefore, Erica must ensure control of time, place, and content before scheduling.

The 2014 International Fraud Examiners Manual explains:

“Often, the most important evidence exists only in the form of volatile data (e.g., RAM)… If the evidence that a formally trained computer investigator needs to collect exists only in the form of volatile data stored in volatile computer memory such as RAM, and the data is expected to disappear when the computer is shut down, he should collect the data live from the suspect computer.”

Also,

“If the computer is off, leave it off… Booting up a system can alter its files… Accordingly, turning a system on could damage and taint any evidence.”

Thus, the most accurate statement is D — live data collection may be performed directly if volatile data is required.

Textual analytics is used to extract investigative insight from unstructured data—communications and documents that are not stored in standard database fields—such as emails, chats, memos, and other narrative text. CFE investigative guidance explains that textual analysis applies linguistic methods and statistical techniques to identify themes, anomalies, and linkages within large volumes of text. Its purpose is not to determine truthfulness or deception with certainty (Option A), because text analytics cannot reliably “detect lies” in a definitive way. Nor is its primary objective to guarantee discovery of a confession (Option B); admissions can appear, but that is not the defining function of the approach. Option C aligns more with flow-of-funds visualization or link/relationship charting for financial movements rather than analyzing language content. Instead, textual analysis is performed to categorize and structure text so patterns, sentiments, recurring topics, and relationships between people and events become visible—helping examiners prioritize leads, identify risk indicators, and focus investigative testing on communications most indicative of potential fraud.

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.

During admission-seeking interviews, fraud examiners often employ rationalization techniques to help the suspect justify their misconduct and make it easier to confess. One of these rationalizations is the altruistic appeal.

From the 2014 International Fraud Examiners Manual:

“Facilitators of communication are those socio-psychological forces that make conversations, including interviews, easier to accomplish. These facilitators require a basic understanding of what motivates people. The facilitators are: fulfilling expectations, recognition, altruistic appeals, sympathetic understanding, new experience, catharsis, need for meaning, and extrinsic rewards.”

From the CFE Prep - Investigations study guide:

“Facilitators of communication… include fulfilling expectations, recognition, altruistic appeals, sympathetic understanding, new experience, catharsis, need for meaning, and extrinsic rewards.”

???? Application to Scenario:

Beta says: “I know you didn’t do this for yourself; it was for your family.”

This is a classic altruistic appeal — reframing the suspect’s motive as selfless or for the benefit of others, rather than selfish wrongdoing.

The purpose is to reduce internal resistance to confessing by allowing the suspect to rationalize the act as being for a noble reason.

“When searching for an individual, the fraud examiner should obtain a past address of the subject, and search activities should begin with that information”.

Therefore, saying a past address is “of no help” is incorrect.

“Securities regulators… require disclosures that typically include: corporate financial statements, identification of officers and directors, identification of significant owners… and a history of the business”【10:2014 International Fraud Examiners Manual.pdf†L73-L95】.

Thus, regulatory securities records are the best source for financial statements.

The Fraud Examiners Manual explains:

“Before running tests on the data, the fraud examiner must make certain the data being analysed are relevant and reliable for the objective of the engagement… Using the profile of potential frauds as a guide, the fraud examiner must identify the target data for analysis”.