Why Do People Make Bad Choices? Simple, We’re Human

“Do good people commit fraud?”

I was the opening keynote speaker at the 2024 Fraud Retreat in Denver a couple of weeks ago.

I had an incredible conversation with a gentleman after my talk and he asked me that question.

Followed by,

“Do you believe you were a good person when you were committing fraud?”

I shared this story as my response.

“I lived in a townhouse/condominium community while I was committing the fraud. It was brand new construction: everyone living there was the first to occupy their homes.

We lived in the condo section, three buildings in a U-shape around a beautiful courtyard.

Each building had four levels, including the garage, one elevator, and two stairwells.

As with many new construction projects, there were glitches. One of ours was our fire alarm system.

It would go off without reason, usually in the middle of the night, and hundreds of people would gather in the courtyard in their PJs, waiting for the “all clear” from the fire department.

This happened more times than we would ever want until the issue was resolved.