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Research Summary The COVID‐19 pandemic threated public health and safety and led to a number of virus‐related fraud schemes. We surveyed over 2,200 American adults to investigate their experiences with COVID‐19‐related frauds. Our goals were to better understand fraud targeting and victimization, as well as the impacts of fraud on victims. Over a quarter of our sample reported purchasing either a COVID‐19‐related product or a service, yet 42.5% reported feeling targeted for fraud. Being a target of COVID‐19 frauds is significantly linked to one's routine activities, however it is one's level of self‐control that more strongly predicts victimization. COVID‐19 anxieties mediate the impact of self‐control on purchasing. Policy Implications Legal interventions and increased regulations surrounding advertising are a potential mechanism for protecting consumers, yet “soft” interventions that interrupt routine activities might be more useful and applicable. The use of white‐lists and publicly available websites that allow e‐commerce sites and sellers to be verified would help enable higher levels of self‐guardianship. It is also important to provide continuous and clear messaging about what is being done to protect consumers.

Purpose This paper aims to increase the understanding of the types of insider financial frauds that occur within small businesses by focusing on a sample of businesses that have not employed a certified fraud examiner (CFE) in response to employee theft. Design/methodology/approach The survey data analyzed come from 102 small businesses (100 employees or fewer) in a midsized Midwestern city in the USA, and reflect 125 reported employee thefts. Findings The study results indicate that small businesses that do not hire a CFE report certain thefts with greater and lower frequencies as compared to small businesses that do hire a CFE. For particular types of frauds, CFEs may be no more useful than the efforts of business owners or managers, and other employees. Practical implications There may be important organizational differences between businesses that hire CFEs and those that do not, differences related to the ways in which business finances are maintained, the ways in which specific controls are used and the ability of employees to access business resources. These factors may create business-based opportunity structures that make particular types of insider financial frauds more or less likely to occur within a particular business. Originality/value Existing research on insider financial frauds may not appropriately account for small businesses that cannot afford, or are unwilling, to hire a CFE. The findings discussed in this paper contribute to a more complete picture of the types of frauds that small businesses experience, as well as how these businesses deal with insider theft.

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Employee theft is one of the most harmful crimes that can occur to a small business. Research on this crime has focused primarily on its financial impact and how to prevent it. However, like other forms of crime, employee theft also has more personal and subjective effects on victims. To date, these aspects of employee theft victimization have been largely ignored. We address this gap in the literature by exploring the emotional consequences of employee theft as experienced by the owners of small businesses. Guided by grounded theory methodology, we conducted a series of in-person interviews with the owners of small businesses to gain a better understanding of the total impact of employee theft. Analysis of interviews indicated that victimized business owners experienced a range of cognitive and emotional reactions to theft. At times, these reactions were severe, and they were exacerbated if the victim had a strong emotional connection with the offender.