The best books on fraud

Who picked these books? Meet our 13 experts.

13 authors created a book list connected to fraud, and here are their favorite fraud books.
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Embezzlement

By Kelly Paxton,

Book cover of Embezzlement: How to Detect, Prevent, and Investigate Pink-Collar Crime

Melisa Galasso Author Of Money Matters for Nonprofits: How Board Members Can Harness the Power of Financial Statements by Understanding Basic Accounting

From the list on someone new to a nonprofit board.

Who am I?

I’m a CPA with nearly 20 years of experience in the accounting profession and I provide continuing education to CPA firms in the area of accounting and auditing. One of my areas of specialization is government and nonprofit accounting. I serve on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB’s) Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee and the AICPA’s Governing Council. I am passionate about the standard setting process and ensuring financial reporting is accurate and presented in a way to help the user make financial decisions. I have a BSBA from Georgetown University with a concentration in Accounting and International Business. 

Melisa's book list on someone new to a nonprofit board

Discover why each book is one of Melisa's favorite books.

Why did Melisa love this book?

Google nonprofit fraud and you will see the sad scenarios that many nonprofits fall prey to. While large flashy frauds are interesting to read about, it is often the people closest to the organization that you wouldn’t expect that impact many nonprofit frauds. Pink collar crime is perpetrated by someone with limited power (bookkeepers, office managers) as opposed to white collar crime (CFOs and CEOs). Embezzlement breaks down the fraud triangle and provides excellent examples of various fraud schemes with a chapter dedicated to nonprofit and governments. It’s filled with prevention tips to help nonprofits stop being a victim. One of the reasons I wrote my book was to empower board members to be able to ask the right questions of management so that fraud schemes would be more easily identifiable. 

By Kelly Paxton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Embezzlement as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Your most trusted employee. Your right hand. However, something just doesn’t feel right about your business. Could an employee be stealing from you? Certainly you’re mistaken, right?

After all, this person helped you grow your business, has full access to everything from passwords to bank statements. Sure, that gives your employee the opportunity, but he or she would never take advantage of it.

We lock our cars and our houses to protect ourselves. What do you do to protect your business? This book is designed to help you prevent, detect, and investigate embezzlement. You will learn how opportunity, pressure, and…


Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct

By Richard Girgenti, Timothy Hedley,

Book cover of Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct: Meeting the Challenges of a Global, Regulated and Digital Environment

Mónica Ramírez Chimal Author Of Don't Let Them Wash, Nor Dry!: A Simple and Easy Guide to Protect Your Company from the Risk of Money Laundering

From the list on tackling money laundering risk.

Who am I?

The prevention of money laundering caught my attention, and at that time, with so little information on the market, I decided to write my first book so that more people can protect themselves from this crime. I have a gift: explain complicated topics in an easy way. This has helped me to write several articles on different topics in international magazines. I’m a passionate-effective trainer who believes that helping people to grow helps to make this world better. It’s my legacy! I like to do the right thing; take this as a reliable fact: I consult my own book and articles written. I hope to help you grow too!

Mónica's book list on tackling money laundering risk

Discover why each book is one of Mónica's favorite books.

Why did Mónica love this book?

I worked at Arthur Andersen, and I was selected to be among the few teams that started to understand, learn, and apply risk assessments or business risk management methodology. In this book, I came across these concepts again, which are vital to identifying where the risk of money laundering and any other crime may occur. In addition, this book also includes useful information to be considered in the compliance program and how fraud and corruption are related to money laundering. It's a book that provides solid knowledge.

By Richard Girgenti, Timothy Hedley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Praise for Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct: Meeting the Challenge of a Global, Regulated, and Digital Environment

"This book belongs on any desk where fraud and misconduct threaten. It is bristling with the kind of detail this field truly needs. Written by leading pros at the top of their game, its soup-to-nuts advice matches solutions to problems. Read it once to gain broad insight; come back again and again to manage particular risks."
Thomas Donaldson, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics,Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

"A valuable road map for corporate fraud fighters in an…


Beat the Fraudster

By Doug McAdam,

Book cover of Beat the Fraudster: How to Easily Protect Yourself Online and Offline

Paul Lewis Author Of Money Box: Your Toolkit for Balancing Your Budget, Growing Your Bank Balance and Living a Better Financial Life

From the list on money and your life.

Who am I?

I realised in my twenties that there were millions of people who desperately needed advice about their money but could not afford an accountant or an adviser. Since then my passion has been to simplify the deliberately complex financial world, explain the obscure and often unintelligible rules about tax, childcare, benefits, investment, savings, and borrowing. Recently as the tsunami of fraud has swept across the UK I have devoted more time to help people avoid losing money to scammers – both criminal and respectable. Most people can’t afford professional advice, but they can afford me – I’m freely available in print, on air, and online. 

Paul's book list on money and your life

Discover why each book is one of Paul's favorite books.

Why did Paul love this book?

Fraud is now 40% of all crime. It is the crime we are most likely to come across. Yet the authorities seem powerless to stop it. This book explains how frauds work and, armed with that knowledge, how to prevent them happening to you. Doug has years of experience and understands the world of fraud as well as any fraudster. Read it and keep safe. 

By Doug McAdam,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Beat the Fraudster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Email protection, PayPal security, web browser attacks... how to prevent cybercrime and protect your digital self from being a target of scammers.

Not all frauds require your participation. Whilst scams require you to fall for their ruse, other frauds occur in the background completely without your knowledge or consent, such as identity theft.

Whilst millennials and the elderly are statistically at a higher risk, due to lack of life experience or technological advancements, fraudsters often actively target business owners aged between 30-60 as they often have better credit ratings. Even high-ranking police officers and fraud specialists have fallen victim. Anyone…


Money Laundering Prevention

By Jonathan E. Turner,

Book cover of Money Laundering Prevention: Deterring, Detecting, and Resolving Financial Fraud

Mónica Ramírez Chimal Author Of Don't Let Them Wash, Nor Dry!: A Simple and Easy Guide to Protect Your Company from the Risk of Money Laundering

From the list on tackling money laundering risk.

Who am I?

The prevention of money laundering caught my attention, and at that time, with so little information on the market, I decided to write my first book so that more people can protect themselves from this crime. I have a gift: explain complicated topics in an easy way. This has helped me to write several articles on different topics in international magazines. I’m a passionate-effective trainer who believes that helping people to grow helps to make this world better. It’s my legacy! I like to do the right thing; take this as a reliable fact: I consult my own book and articles written. I hope to help you grow too!

Mónica's book list on tackling money laundering risk

Discover why each book is one of Mónica's favorite books.

Why did Mónica love this book?

If you want to know why money laundering is so appealing, in this book, you will find out why. The author, through his experience as an investigator, includes a chapter on the motivations that lead people to get involved in money laundering. It helped me a lot to understand why people do it; maybe you get surprised like I did. He also includes different mechanisms with which criminals move money and intertwines the relationship between fraud and money laundering, giving a useful perspective to minimize these risks in any company.

By Jonathan E. Turner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Money Laundering Prevention as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A how-to guide for the discovery and prevention of the illegal transfer of money Written for the private sector where most money laundering takes place this book clearly explains shows business professionals how to deter, detect, and resolve financial fraud cases internally. It expertly provides an understanding of the mechanisms, tools to detect issues, and action lists to recover hidden funds. * Provides action-oriented material that will show how to deter, detect, and resolve financial fraud cases * Offers an understanding of the mechanisms, tools to detect issues, and action list to recover hidden funds * Covers mechanisms for moving…


Billion Dollar Whale

By Tom Wright, Bradley Hope,

Book cover of Billion Dollar Whale

Robert Kerbeck Author Of RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street

From the list on cons and scams.

Who am I?

Growing up in the automobile business (my great-grandfather sold horse carriages before cars were invented!), I’ve always been fascinated by salesmen and con artists, and the very thin line that often separates the two. What is a sales pitch, for example, and what is an outright lie? Where does the truth live anymore? Media? Politics? Business? None of the above? It has never been more important to learn the truth, and never has it been harder to find it. And it’s this very issue that is dividing the world. We think the other side has been conned. They think we’ve been conned. One thing’s for sure—someone’s getting conned. And that’s why I love con books! 

Robert's book list on cons and scams

Discover why each book is one of Robert's favorite books.

Why did Robert love this book?

Billion Dollar Whale is the story of Asian financier, Jho Low, and the global financial swindle that involved Interpol, the Malaysian prime minister, Goldman Sachs, and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Leonardo DiCaprio. Low was even one of the primary financiers of—wait for it—The Wolf of Wall Street, the Oscar-nominated crime biopic about Jordan Belfort. Think about that for a moment: A film glorifying financial malfeasance was funded via financial malfeasance. You can’t make this shit up and you must read Billion Dollar Whale

By Tom Wright, Bradley Hope,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Billion Dollar Whale as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude was being set into motion. It began in Malaysia and would spread around the world, touching some of the world's leading financial firms, A-list Hollywood celebrities, supermodels, Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs, and even the art world. Now known as the 1MDB affair, the scandal would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.

Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme say the 1MDB affair will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the…


A Talent For War

By Jack McDevitt,

Book cover of A Talent For War

Richard Paolinelli Author Of Escaping Infinity

From the list on superversive fiction.

Who am I?

I am both a writer and a publisher of Superversive fiction. Even before I encountered the term and the official definition of it, my fiction writing has always tended to be Superversive. Which makes sense as I am drawn to Superversive stories as a reader. I want to read and write about heroes and heroines. I want to be drawn into incredible universes and taken along on amazing adventures. I want stories where evil appears to be winning but good eventually finds a way to triumph in the end.  

Richard's book list on superversive fiction

Discover why each book is one of Richard's favorite books.

Why did Richard love this book?

Partially because I credit Jack for inspiring me to give my own fiction writing one more try when I decided to retire from sports writing. Having read this book and being hooked on the entire series, I read about his life’s journey and saw many similarities to mine. As for the book itself, the thought of how future archaeologists would approach their craft on a galactic scale, and how solving ancient mysteries could impact current events so, really captured my imagination.

By Jack McDevitt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Talent For War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jack McDevitt's A TALENT FOR WAR takes Alex Benedict into the heart of an alien galaxy in a thrilling interstellar adventure. 'A real writer has entered our ranks, and his name is Jack McDevitt' Michael Bishop, Nebula-winning author

Everyone knows the legend of Christopher Sim. An interstellar hero with a rare talent for war, he changed
mankind's history forever when he forged a rag-tag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the alien Ashiyyur.

But now, in a forgotten file, Alex Benedict has found a startling piece of information. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a fraud.…


The Grownup

By Gillian Flynn,

Book cover of The Grownup: A Story by the Author of Gone Girl

Roz Watkins Author Of The Devil's Dice

From the list on both dark and funny.

Who am I?

I’m a writer, and an enthusiastic reader, of crime fiction. And although I love dark fiction, I’ve realised that subtle humour is the spice that takes a book to the next level for me. Whether it’s a turn of phrase that makes me guiltily cheer along or an interaction with a partner or colleague that makes me wince with recognition, I love dark books that make me smile! These are some of my favourites – I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Roz's book list on both dark and funny

Discover why each book is one of Roz's favorite books.

Why did Roz love this book?

This is actually a short story rather than a novel, but there’s enough plot and character for a full novel. The story opens with this announcement: ‘I didn’t stop giving hand jobs because I wasn’t good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it. For three years, I gave the best hand job in the tristate area.’ How can you not read on? The unnamed narrator is damaged, cynical, funny, and extremely unreliable. 

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Grownup as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke.

Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn't believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins…


Lying for Money

By Dan Davies,

Book cover of Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of Our World

David Gerard Author Of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts

From the list on cryptocurrency and finance crimes.

Who am I?

I started writing about bitcoin and cryptocurrency for the funny dumb crook stories. It was ridiculous and arrogant in a particular way that needed and needs puncturing. Somehow this turned into a second job as a finance journalist specialising in the area. The crypto promoters are reprehensible, but their self-sabotaging foolishness makes their comeuppance extremely satisfying. I feel I’m making the world a better place with this.

David's book list on cryptocurrency and finance crimes

Discover why each book is one of David's favorite books.

Why did David love this book?

Davies’ Lying For Money lays out a taxonomy of fraud, illustrated with amazing stories of real-life frauds.

Per Davies: “A long firm makes you question whether you can trust anyone. A counterfeit makes you question the evidence of your eyes. A control fraud makes you question your trust in the institutions of society and a market crime makes you question society itself.”

Davies’ key trick to spotting a fraud: look at something that’s growing unusually quickly, and examine it in some way it hasn’t been examined before.

Only the second chapter is about cryptocurrency specifically, but understanding how frauds think is fabulously useful in understanding how crypto works. Not even crypto’s frauds are new.

Davies used different stories in the UK and US editions of the book – so get both.

By Dan Davies,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lying for Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Financial crime seems horribly complicated but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what's theirs. In fact, there are four. A veteran regulatory economist and market analyst, Dan Davies has years of experience picking the bones out of some of the most famous frauds of the modern age. Now he reveals the big picture that emerges from their labyrinths of deceit.

Along the way you'll find out how to fake a gold mine with a wedding ring, a file and a shotgun. You'll see how close Charles Ponzi, the king of pyramid schemes, came to…


A Beautiful Crime

By Christopher Bollen,

Book cover of A Beautiful Crime

John Copenhaver Author Of The Savage Kind

From the list on slow burn psychological suspense.

Who am I?

I’m a historical mystery writer, English teacher, and book reviewer for Lambda Literary. I love to write and explore buried and forgotten histories, particularly those of the LGBTQ+ community. Equally, I’m fascinated by the ways in which self-understanding eludes us and is a life-long pursuit. For that reason, as a reader, I’m attracted to slow burn psychological suspense in which underlying, even subconscious, motivations play a role. I also love it when I fall for a character who, in life, I’d find corrupt or repulsive.


John's book list on slow burn psychological suspense

Discover why each book is one of John's favorite books.

Why did John love this book?

In Bollen’s fourth novel, the boyishly handsome, 25-year-old Nick Brink meets the older and more remote Clay Guillory at the funeral of Clay’s boyfriend/benefactor, Freddy Van der Haar. Freddy, whose name is synonymous with American royalty, was one of the few remaining vestiges of the old New York gay scene. House poor, Freddy bequeathed Clay his shambling Venetian palazzo and a collection of counterfeit antiques. Nick falls for Clay, and they escape to Venice. To fund their new Continental lifestyle, they cook up a plan to con Richard West, a wealthy American retiree who has a sentimental affection for the Van der Haar name and fondness for acquiring antiques. Even as their criminal behavior begins to accrue a body count, we’re seduced by that all-too-recognizable outsider’s desire to belong to a place. For these men, Venice isn’t just a city but a way of seeing themselves, of imagining their futures.

By Christopher Bollen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Beautiful Crime as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist | An O Magazine Best Book of the Year

“Stylish… a compelling take on the eternal question of how good people morph into criminals. Terrific.”—People, Book of the Week

From the author of The Destroyers comes an "intricately plotted and elegantly structured" (Newsday) story of intrigue and deception, set in contemporary Venice and featuring a young American couple who have set their sights on a risky con.

When Nick Brink and his boyfriend Clay Guillory meet up on the Grand Canal in Venice, they have a plan in mind—and it doesn’t involve a vacation.…


Elsewhere

By Richard Russo,

Book cover of Elsewhere: A Memoir

Bill Scheft Author Of Shrink Thyself

From the list on that make me feel like an absolute fraud.

Who am I?

Why do I use the word “fraud?” The answer is agonizingly simple. My whole life, and I mean since I was ten, I wanted to be “a real writer.” Whatever that was. And now here we are, 55 years later. Despite my great good fortune to spend 24 years coming up with jokes for Dave Letterman, three years as a columnist at Sports Illustrated, and to have my name on four novels, if you asked me, “Are you a real writer?” I would tell you, “not yet….” Here are five real writers.

Bill's book list on that make me feel like an absolute fraud

Discover why each book is one of Bill's favorite books.

Why did Bill love this book?

A memoir of his mother and his life in Glovershville, New York from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. It is utterly unfair that such a singular writer of fiction can be this deft at non-fiction. The best piece of advice I ever got as a writer was “Make your characters complicated…” Some characters, like Jean Russo, come complicated out of the factory. (By the way, Russo is a friend, and once told me at a book event in his honor that he felt like a fraud. So, I am in fine company). 

By Richard Russo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Elsewhere as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist turns to memoir in this "intimate and powerful" account (Chicago Tribune) of his lifelong bond with his high-strung, spirited mother—and the small town she spent her life trying to escape. 

Anyone familiar with Russo’s novels will recognize Gloversville—once famous for producing nine out of ten dress gloves in the United States. By the time Rick was born, ladies had stopped wearing gloves and Gloversville was on its way out. Jean Russo instilled in her son her dream of a better life elsewhere, a dream that prompted her to follow him across the country when he went…


Bad Blood

By John Carreyrou,

Book cover of Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Jean E. Rhodes Author Of Older and Wiser: New Ideas for Youth Mentoring in the 21st Century

From the list on understanding the psychology of deception.

Who am I?

I'm clinical psychology professor at UMass Boston and expert on mentoring relationships. When I was a senior in high school, my dad left behind thirty years of marriage, four kids, and a complicated legal and financial history to start a new life. I couldn't fully comprehend the FBI investigation that forced his departure—any more than I could've fathomed the fact that my classmate Jim Comey would eventually lead that agency. I was also reeling from a discovery that my dad had “shortened” his name from Rosenzweig to Rhodes, a common response to anti-Semitism. It was during that period that I experienced the benefits of mentors and the joy of books about hidden agendas and subtexts.

Jean's book list on understanding the psychology of deception

Discover why each book is one of Jean's favorite books.

Why did Jean love this book?

By now, everyone knows John Carreyou’s book, Bad Blood, which chronicles the rise and fall of biotech startup, Theranos, and its sociopathic founder Elizabeth Holmes.

The capacity of this college dropout to deceive investors, board members, and the public was truly epic, as is the book. But what I especially loved was that I didn’t have to suffer the painful withdrawal that so often accompanies the completion of an engrossing tale.

The HBO series (esp. Amanda Siegfried’s masterful performance), the author’s subsequent podcast, and Holmes' pre- and post-trial shenanigans has kept this storyline alive.

By John Carreyrou,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Bad Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The shocking true story behind The Dropout, starring the Emmy award-winning Amanda Seyfried, Naveen Andrews and Stephen Fry.

'I couldn't put down this thriller . . . a book so compelling that I couldn't turn away' - Bill Gates

Winner of the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2018

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end, despite pressure from its charismatic CEO and threats by her lawyers.

In 2014,…