The Examiner – Insights on Fighting Financial Fraud

It is funny how your brain works. I can remember events from my childhood in vivid detail, but I forget what I learn at most training sessions as soon as I hear it. The ability to recall a memory is somehow linked to the strength of the emotions felt at the time the memory is created. Now, consider the emotional impact fraud has on those affected, and thus the memories that are created. In the majority of cases, these will not be positive memories, but because of the stress caused by the fraud, the emotions felt are sure to be strong.

This past week my family and I traveled to New York City. It was an amazing journey with one adventure after another. We walked around Times Square, rode bikes through Central Park, took a bus tour uptown, and caught a water taxi from midtown to downtown. It is hard to name all the sights we saw and adventures we  took, but here are a few:  Apollo Theater, Grant’s Tomb, 9/11 Memorial, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, 5^th Avenue, Met, Guggenheim, Lion King, Charging Bull, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and Trinity Church.

I finished my first ultramarathon. It was an amazing adventure. The journey began by setting a goal at the end of last year and ended when I crossed the finish line on Saturday. I really enjoyed the race. It was wet, muddy, and slippery, but I find it very hard to complain when I only ran 31 miles. There were others running 50 or 100 miles. They were just getting warmed up when I was finishing. I say “warmed up,” but it was about 55 degrees when I finished (some 10 degrees cooler than when we started).

My ultramarathon is less than a week away, and I am questioning my sanity every time I think about running 31 miles. I have never run farther than a marathon distance (26.2 miles), and I’ve only done that twice. I have never run a trail race, which contains plenty of hills, roots, mud, and dirt. Plus, I am over 40 years old. Did I train enough, did I put in enough miles, did I run enough hills, and how many mistakes have I made along the way?

Analyzing data is such a great topic. My goal with this post is to provide you with a structured way to tackle your next data analytics project. Although there are many reasons to perform data analytics, you should always focus on the tic-tac-toe method, that is horizontal, vertical and diagonal.

As promised, this blog is a continuation of last week’s topic, data analysis. We will dive into the third tip related to selecting the right tools. Tools have been used for ages to help humans perform complex tasks. From the creation of the wheel that accelerated transportation to the invention of electricity shaping the way we live, tools help us accomplish tasks that otherwise might appear impossible.

In the business world, we create an overwhelming amount of data every day. This data can be extremely useful to us if we know how to convert it into meaningful information. Once you have meaningful information, it can be interpreted, which will allow you to draw conclusions and take actions.

Is Valentine’s Day a celebration, holiday, or a day of observance? It probably doesn’t matter how you define it, because you either have someone to celebrate with or you don’t. If you have a Valentine, you probably feel obligated to buy a card, flowers, chocolate or all of them. If you don’t have one, then you are reminded that being alone sucks and you wish you could buy meaningless gifts for someone.

In last week’s blog, I introduced you to Winfrey who wrote a letter of confession to her boss. She covered a lot of territory in the letter, but there were also plenty of gaps. The information in the letter is similar to the story an owner starts putting together when the red flags of fraud begin to reveal themselves.

I wrote this letter to give you a glimpse into the mind of a fraudster. The scenarios, people, and names are fictional.

Dear Jane,

It is with heavy heart that I am writing this letter, but the overwhelming feeling of guilt has been eating at me for the past few years. I am so very sorry for what I am about to tell you and hope that you will find a way to forgive me. I know that it may take some time, but I think you will understand that I was only doing what I had to do.