AUSTIN, Texas – Background checks and internal controls may not be enough to protect your credit union from occupational fraud. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' 2004 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse over half of all fraud cases, particularly those committed by executives, were identified by a tip. Surprisingly, internal controls ranked fourth behind "by accident" in terms of the number of frauds detected in the study. The study also finds that with the majority of fraudsters as first time offenders and only 12% with a previous conviction for a fraud-related offense, background checks are not as helpful as many would think. Below is a look at a few other interesting fraud statistics: