FraudCaster

According to a report entitled, Occupational Fraud: A Study of the Impact of an Economic Recession, “88% of the Certified Fraud Examiners polled indicated that they anticipate a slight or significant increase in fraudulent activity” during the next 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently read on embezzlement.com that the Secret Service was the best agency to call if your business is embezzled against. I could hardly believe what I was reading. The Secret Service? Really?

Isn’t the Secret Service all about protecting the President of the United States? Wouldn’t it make more sense to call the local police department or maybe the FBI to report embezzlement? Read the rest of this entry »

Grover Michael Cowan, a treatment plan coordinator for a Pottstown, PA dental group, took blank checks from patients and wrote his name in the payee line then cashed them. He stole more than $100,000 over an eleven month period before he was caught. Cowan will spend two to seven years in jail.

Victoria “Vickie” Lee Wafford, a devoted dental office manager for 15 years, embezzled $1.6 million over a seven year span. She had a signature stamp from her employer and her own private stash of blank checks. Using the signature stamp, she signed over 1000 checks then cooked the books to cover her trail. Wafford will spend eight years in prison.

Who’s minding your till? Do you have the right safeguards in place to protect yourself and your business from employee dishonesty?

According to the Corporate Fraud Handbook¹ there are three “least implemented” but “most effective” anti-fraud measures that reduce the cost and duration of fraud schemes.

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Cognitive laziness is simply “lazy thinking”. A disease to which many Americans suffer.

So, what is lazy thinking? And, how does it apply to being victimized by fraud? Read the rest of this entry »

On November 24, 2009, six individuals were sentenced in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or “spamming.” Read the rest of this entry »

In last weeks article, we laid the foundation for understanding the Pump n’ Dump. This week we finish my story about my investing in LOCH and the thinking errors that led to my financial losses…

The unscrupulous fraudsters found a real company that had a real story which really ended in failure. But, the fraudsters spun a winning story around the real one that made it sound like LOCH was successful and about to sign a major military contract – which of course would cause the company value to increase and therefore its stock to follow suit.

The FBI call this “kernels of truth, stuffed with a lie”. It was easy to check out the company and see the press releases showing what was true. But, it was impossible to verify the “leaked” information about the contract. On the strength of the fictitious contract, investors (like me – and, investor is a strong word) bought the stocks. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent article in the Des Moines Register, Bankers Trust is warning shoppers to “carefully check retail receipts following reports that rogue cashiers are adding ‘cash-back’ on transactions and pocketing the extra”. Read the rest of this entry »

In the stock world, if it sounds too good to be true, it is probably a Pump n’ Dump! What is that?

A Pump n’ Dump is a scheme where unscrupulous people, like the six that were recently sentenced to up to 51 months in federal prison, buy stock in struggling or sometimes defunct companies that are still available on the stock market, pump up their value through false or misleading statements, then dump their own stocks at the highest possible value leaving the rest of the investors holding worthless stock. Read the rest of this entry »

How serious should one be about one’s passwords on Facebook? Apparently pretty serious. A Missouri woman was tricked into wiring $4,000.00 after someone hijacked her friend’s Facebook account and sent out requests for financial help.

How did it happen? According to authorities, someone took over the account of Cape Girardeau County resident, Grace Parry and changed her password so she could not access it.
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if you are a U.S. citizen and are approached by an individual or organization that tries to convince you that you are “not subject to this nations tax laws”, run! That’s what Paul Richard Arceneaux, a resident of Church Point, La., should have done. Instead, he bought the lie hook-line-and-sinker.
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The FBI has its hands full as fraud is on the rise.  FBI deputy director John Pistole told the Senate judiciary committee yesterday that it is conducting 500 investigations of corporate fraud.
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David E. Ruskjer, 58, of Dave’s Investment/Loan Program, is accused of bilking his clients out of $16 million in an investment scheme.
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Since 1995 and with the 30 million ads posted every month, Craigslist does a lot of good for a lot of people. It evens rivals local newspapers for their classified ad business. Like anything else where there is something good, someone will figure out a way to make it bad…
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Linda Mitchell, 42, uses her friends’ personal information to obtain 3 credit cards and racks up the bill to a tune of $2,374.
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A 40% return on investment in as little as 30 days is what an alleged con artist used to raise $6 million worth of investments in a purported foreclosure reinstatement program. Her targets were primarily African-American and Hispanic communities.
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