FraudCaster

Archive for December, 2009

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 »