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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legitimacy of private policing of financial crime by fraud examiners.

The literature on fraud examiners is interpreted in the legitimacy context.

A number of critical issues based on the institutional theory and social psychology issues are discussed that question the legitimacy of private policing of financial crime.

There is a need for regulation of the private fraud examination industry.

A number of legitimacy issues should be addressed by financial crime specialists.

Victims of private investigations require regulation of the investigation industry.

Criteria for police legitimacy are applied to the private sector.