Opportunity is not only access
Opportunity can be a bank card, passwords, a role as attorney or executor, control of transport, control of appointments, a solicitor who only hears one voice, or a family that assumes someone else is checking.
A risk lens, not a verdict
Fraud Triangle
Fraud can look ordinary until the records are compared. The Fraud Triangle helps explain why a person with access, a reward, and a story to excuse themselves may start treating deception as acceptable.
Do not use the triangle as proof against a person
The Fraud Triangle is a prevention and investigation model. It can help people ask better questions, but it does not prove fraud, capacity loss, undue influence, or criminal intent. Real cases need evidence, timelines, source documents, and advice from the right professional route.
Fraud risk rises when all three sides meet
Gain or pressure
What reward, need, resentment, debt, status, or control is pulling them?
Opportunity
What access, role, document, account, isolation, or process gap makes it possible?
Justification
What story makes it feel acceptable, deserved, temporary, harmless, or loyal?
access
story
"I can get away with it"
The public wording
The classic model is usually described as pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. For family, will, estate, and attorney concerns, plainer wording can help: what is the gain, what gives them the chance, and what story lets them live with it.
"Get away with it" is perceived impunity
The risk rises when a person believes no one will compare documents, ask for attendance notes, check capacity, challenge the story, report a concern, or move quickly enough before deadlines pass.
Justification is the moral story
Rationalization can sound like care: "I deserve this", "they owe me", "the others abandoned them", "I am protecting the estate", "it is only temporary", or "no one will use the money properly".
Fraud is often found because a small sign becomes a tip
The newest ACFE occupational-fraud benchmark does not say fraud is mostly found by accident. It says tips are the largest first detection route. Accident alone is small. That matters because subtle concerns should be recorded early, not dismissed until there is dramatic proof.
Source: ACFE Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations. This is occupational-fraud data from investigated cases, not a probate-only percentage. It is still useful because it shows why reporting channels, record checks, and ordinary observers matter.
What the mindset can sound like
| Pattern | Words that may hide it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Entitlement | "I did everything", "I earned this", "they would have wanted me to have it", "the others do not deserve anything". | Compare care, payments, promises, documents, gifts, will changes, and who benefited. |
| Rescue story | "I am the only one helping", "they cannot cope without me", "I had to take control". | Check whether help became isolation, control of access, or control of information. |
| Temporary borrowing | "I was going to put it back", "it was only for bills", "it was easier this way". | Ask for bank records, receipts, authority documents, and a clear reconciliation. |
| Blame shifting | "The family made me do it", "the solicitor approved it", "the bank allowed it", "everyone knew". | Separate who knew what from who had authority. Look for written evidence, not atmosphere. |
| Document fog | "The paperwork is somewhere", "it was verbal", "there is no need to see the file". | Request copies, dates, drafts, attendance notes, invoices, witness details, and file-preservation confirmation. |
| Moral disengagement | "It is not really stealing", "the estate is messy anyway", "no one is harmed", "they will waste it". | Focus on loss, risk of loss, dishonesty, authority, consent, and whether the vulnerable person was free to decide. |
Where it overlaps with wills and power of attorney
Before the will
- One person controls visits, calls, transport, post, bank cards, or appointments.
- A new story is repeated until old relationships look unsafe or greedy.
- Private instructions become impossible because a helper always stays close.
During the paperwork
- The same person arranges the solicitor, pays, attends, or supplies the facts.
- The will-maker is unwell, tired, medicated, dependent, fearful, or isolated.
- Earlier wills, medical evidence, reasons for change, and capacity checks are thin.
After death or incapacity
- Records are delayed, fragmented, or presented as "none of your business".
- Executors, attorneys, or gatekeepers rely on role status rather than clear accounts.
- Anyone asking for evidence is labelled hostile, greedy, confused, or abusive.
What to do with a subtle concern
Record the first odd thing
Write down the date, exact words, who was present, what document or money was involved, and what changed afterwards. Small inconsistencies become useful only when they are tied to time and source evidence.
Keep evidence neutral
Save messages, screenshots, letters, file references, bank entries, appointment dates, visitor notes, and names of witnesses. Avoid editing originals or turning a timeline into accusations.
Ask who had authority
Identify whether control came from an LPA, EPA, deputyship, guardianship, controllership, appointeeship, executor role, bank mandate, or informal gatekeeping.
Use the right route
Fraud, theft, coercion, threats, and abuse of position may need police or safeguarding. The Fraud Act 2006 applies in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; Scotland uses different offence routes. Will validity, executor removal, family provision, and solicitor complaints are different routes and may have urgent deadlines.