Investigative analyst vs fraud investigator

The differences between investigative analysts and fraud investigators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an investigative analyst and a fraud investigator. Additionally, an investigative analyst has an average salary of $125,975, which is higher than the $49,010 average annual salary of a fraud investigator.

The top three skills for an investigative analyst include criminal justice, external stakeholders and anti-money laundering. The most important skills for a fraud investigator are law enforcement agencies, investigative reports, and fraud investigations.

Investigative analyst vs fraud investigator overview

	Investigative Analyst	Fraud Investigator
Yearly salary	$125,975	$49,010
Hourly rate	$60.56	$23.56
Growth rate	3%	6%
Number of jobs	28,703	5,470
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	44	43
Years of experience	4	4

What does an investigative analyst do?

An investigative analyst is responsible for handling and resolving suspicious activities that pose risks for an organization's reputation and stability. Investigative analysts review incident reports, such as fraud and other law violations, strategizing on effective ways to minimize losses and prevent misconduct reoccurrence. They collect evidence, including documents and interviews, to support their claims and record their findings. An investigative analyst must be highly communicative and organizational, as well as the ability to keep and secure confidential information until further notice.

What does a fraud investigator do?

A fraud investigator specializes in investigating and identifying fraudulent activities within a company and its clients. Their responsibilities depend on their line of work or industry of employment. However, most of the time, their duties will revolve around devising strategies and systems to detect inconsistencies, monitoring suspicious transactions and accounts, conducting reviews to identify any security lapses or vulnerabilities in the procedures, and teaching staff how to notice any fraudulent activities. Furthermore, it is vital to implement the policies and regulations of the company.

Investigative analyst vs fraud investigator salary

Investigative analysts and fraud investigators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Investigative Analyst	Fraud Investigator
Average salary	$125,975	$49,010
Salary range	Between $102,000 And $154,000	Between $32,000 And $74,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state	Montana	New York
Best paying company	Meta	Deutsche Bank
Best paying industry	Professional	Finance

Differences between investigative analyst and fraud investigator education

There are a few differences between an investigative analyst and a fraud investigator in terms of educational background:

	Investigative Analyst	Fraud Investigator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Criminal Justice	Criminal Justice
Most common college	SUNY at Binghamton	California State University - Bakersfield

Investigative analyst vs fraud investigator demographics

Here are the differences between investigative analysts' and fraud investigators' demographics:

	Investigative Analyst	Fraud Investigator
Average age	44	43
Gender ratio	Male, 44.9% Female, 55.1%	Male, 49.6% Female, 50.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 2.8% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	4%

Differences between investigative analyst and fraud investigator duties and responsibilities

Investigative analyst example responsibilities.

Manage a team responsible for an audit and complete overhaul of a lab after finding several critical HIPAA violations.
Manage reporting, investigating identity thefts, identifying account take over and AML, conducting compliance audits and account closures as needed
Manage the Medicaid provider exclusion and reinstatement monitoring and reporting activities to meet customer expectations and government requirements.
Provide QA oversight of corrective and preventive actions by reviewing and entering data into the CAPA system.
Increase focus on data privacy and breaches, HIPAA compliance, third-party due diligence and export controls.
Review ACH, wires and activity on accounts for suspicious activity.

Fraud investigator example responsibilities.

Manage corporate-wide document production relative to complex litigation cases.
Detect and investigate fraudulent transactions such as money laundering, check forgeries, unauthorize ACH transfers and debit card fraud.
Review ISO reports and maintain close contact with police agencies working on fraud investigations.
Pursue recovery of bank funds through ACH processes, restitution from perpetrator and customer through criminal and civil means.
Write suspicious activity reports, address fraud alerts, and other applicable AML processes in accordance with regulations and time limitations.
Work on the development of a client application site determining the AML decision making rules, alerts, validation and verification.

Investigative analyst vs fraud investigator skills

Common investigative analyst skills

Criminal Justice, 7%
External Stakeholders, 7%
Anti-Money Laundering, 7%
Identify Trends, 7%
Management System, 6%
Law Enforcement Agencies, 4%

Common fraud investigator skills

Law Enforcement Agencies, 7%
Investigative Reports, 6%
Fraud Investigations, 6%
Criminal Justice, 6%
Financial Institutions, 4%
Fraud Claims, 4%

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Investigative Analyst
Investigative Analyst vs Fraud Investigator

Updated January 8, 2025

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