Theft from businesses is a common issue, although it takes various forms of severity. On one hand, there are workers who may just take office supplies home with them at the end of the day. But there are others who will take computers and thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and still others who may try to embezzle tens of thousands of dollars from the business.

According to one study, it is most likely that these workers are men. Here are some of the key findings:

• Expense fraud was twice as likely with men as it was with women
• When looking at those who added $1,000 to an expense report, men were four times as likely to be the culprit. 
• Interestingly, men were more than 62% more likely to think that no one would ever figure out that they had falsified their expense reports. 
• The rate of formal warnings from companies regarding this expense fraud was 31.6% higher for men.

In the majority of cases, workers were under 44 years old, so young men committed most of these crimes.

Why are women less likely to steal?

Experts were quick to point out that this didn't mean that men were less honest than women. If anything, it likely reflects the workplace environment. For instance, workplace biases may mean that men are more likely to be executives at the company, giving them access to accounts where they could steal or embezzle, whereas women wouldn't have that opportunity as often.

Of course, theft and embezzlement can and are committed by both genders year in and year out. Those who are facing criminal accusations need to know about their defense options and the steps to take moving forward.

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