The Examiner – Insights on Fighting Financial Fraud

A Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is a select group of highly skilled, specially trained fraud fighters who choose to see things differently—skeptics who ask a lot of questions and have a desire to do the right thing. This desire is fed by specialized fraud training which helps them become experienced fraud fighters.

This is a quick message to help fuel your fraud fighting efforts. Remember the following ABCs to effectively fight fraud:

This week I will begin my 44^th year of life. Birthdays are milestones that induce reflection, especially as we get older. I look back at what I have accomplished and look forward to the years ahead. From the past, I can glean nuggets of knowledge and wisdom from my shortcomings and accomplishments. By looking into the future, I can dream about what can be. It is a place to find inspiration and destinations.

On the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, we buy fireworks to celebrate the holidays. It's fun for the whole family. Some enjoy throwing small snap pops to the ground, while others enjoy lighting smaller firecrackers to set off small blasts, and everyone loves watching the colors explode in the night sky. It's amazing that I am not deathly afraid of fireworks.

Fraud is a risk to every organization that most business executives choose to ignore. Even those who understand the risk of fraud often feel too busy to make fraud fighting a priority. This is a problem because fraud impacts the organization’s culture and drains resources. While the actual losses caused by fraud can be significant, the emotional burden can also be overwhelming. It is unwise to fail to make fraud prevention and detection a priority.

Forrest Gump famously said, “Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re gonna get.” Each chocolate represents a moment in our lives. There are ups and downs, and sometimes there are unexpected twists and turns.

Every fraudster uses lies to hide the truth. Most are comfortable with lying because they have rationalized their behavior. Over the past several weeks, I have been writing about lies—from the five truths about lying to the reasons people lie. These blog posts provide a foundational knowledge to help you evaluate a person’s willingness to lie, an important skill in identifying and investigating fraud.

Everyone lies. Most of us lie several times a day. Our lies are so common that we rarely think twice about them. We are good people doing the right thing. Do we really lie without knowing it?

Lies are the fraudster’s tools of deceit. They come in many forms, but there are three primary ways they are communicated. Being aware of the different types of lies and how to spot them can help you uncover a fraudster’s scheme more quickly. I will use an actual embezzlement case that was reported earlier this year to illustrate these different ways one can lie.

This Saturday is April Fool’s Day—the one day that we support and even encourage the act of lying. People are preparing their lies to fool their family and friends. There will also be companies that try to pull fast ones. Remember when Taco Bell ran ads announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell to “reduce the country’s debt” and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell?” Of course, this was not true, but it was the subject of a lot of discussions on April 1, 1996.