To help fight crime, including terrorism, money laundering, and identity theft, federal laws and regulations require banks and other organizations to ‘know’ their customers. Know-your-customer (KYC) programs entail verifying customer identities and assessing risks associated with them. However, even if your company is not required...
Identity theft is not just a consumer problem. Criminals steal the identities of businesses, too. In addition to filing fraudulent tax returns, criminals assume the identities of companies to apply for credit, impersonate authorized users, and empty bank accounts. Here are five ways you can...
Backdated stock options can be particularly lucrative for the executives who receive them. However, companies must be careful about how they award them. It is fraud when options are backdated without telling shareholders or when companies change documents such as board meeting minutes or board...
One of the ways perpetrators get away with fraud is by tailoring their approach to exploit a company’s specific weaknesses. However, machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence where technology adapts to more effectively detect fraud schemes, can help combat the ‘ingenuity’ of even the...
You have internal controls to fraud-proof your company’s checks. Every check requires two signatures, and one of them must be yours. Sure, you have a signature stamp to make the job easier on your hand, but it is locked in your office when you are...
Hypothetically, say you suspect that your purchasing manager is embezzling from the company. He seems to live well above his means, drives a luxury car, and buys expensive jewelry for his wife. He also acts cagey and defensive when asked about purchase order discrepancies. Yet...
The bookkeeper is one of any company’s most trusted employees. Unfortunately, that trust is not always deserved. Bookkeepers, particularly those in small and midsize businesses, are ideally positioned to embezzle from their employers. Less means more When bookkeepers go bad, there are plenty of ways for them...
When most people think of organized crime, they imagine unsavory activities conducted in a murky underworld — one that does not affect them. However, organized crime is involved in other activities, such as labor racketeering, that lead to diminished competition, reduced wages, and higher costs,...
Employers that suspect occupational fraud generally have the right to search employee desks and computers, but they should approach such searches with care. Even if you think you know an employee is stealing, you risk invading that person’s privacy, which could lead to a lawsuit. Can...
Identity thieves do not rely on just real identities to commit fraud. With ‘synthetic’ identity theft, they use only a portion of your personal data to help them create fictitious identities, but that does not necessarily lessen the negative impact on your credit. Forensic experts...