The Fraud Triangle: Businesses get Burned by the Man-in-the-Middle By: Dorothy Riggs, CFE By: Dorothy Riggs, CFE The fraud triangle involves three major components; pressure, opportunity and rationalization. Mixed together, these ingredients explode causing significant losses for businesses of all classifications. Recent reports indicate that a typical organization loses 5% of annual revenues to fraud.   The Incendiary Mix of Fraud Triangle Ingredients Pressure is felt by potential fraudsters.  It may stem from financial, health, blackmail, psychological, lifestyle dependency or other issues that are of monumental importance to the affected individual.  He or she looks for some way to relieve the pressure by eliminating the immediate issue, if only temporarily, until they can find a more permanent fix. Opportunity is present when the fraudster identifies and takes advantage of circumstances in order to illegally and deceitfully obta...