Date of Award

Summer 8-31-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Margaret McCoey

Abstract

The millennial generation is often viewed in popular media and perceived by older generational members with angst, contempt, distrust, and trepidation. Adjectives such as lazy, apathetic, greedy, savvy, ruthless, narcissistic, and materialistic are often used to describe the largest and newest generation to enter the professional world. In fact, the adaptation of the term “Generation Me” is so mainstream and seen by most as an accurate description of the millennial generation that it is easy to immediately draw contrasts to other generations and institute perhaps unfounded opinions of millennials that indicate they are devoid of service to others, servitude to oneself in a sprint to personal enrichment, devoid of effort, sacrifice, or collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to sift through the stereotypes of millennials and discover what, if any, generational traits and characteristics can be associated to the changing methodology and process of white collar fraud investigating. Will the inherent skills and traits of professional millennials hinder older fraud investigators, developing methods of fraud that render traditional fraud investigating skills obsolete, and require a new method of detection? This paper will take a deep dive into the challenges a fraud investigator will face in the future age lead by professional millennials. The changing ethics, skills, and values of the typical millennial will require fraud investigators to reexamine their approach and requisite skill set for combating and investigating white collar fraud in the coming years. The following research will provide enough evidence to indicate that the millennials educational trends, their childhood upbringing, changing ethics of millennials from previous generations, and their adaption to strong technological skills will lead the investigative process to change vastly. These changes, often overlooked by current white collar fraud investigators, will require a different process of investigation, and most white collar fraud investigators will need to adapt strategies to successfully thwart and investigate millennial fraudsters.

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