Fraud can affect a broad spectrum of individuals at any time. Companies and consumers are losing billions of dollars every year. The effects of such deceptions can way heavily on companies and consumers. Fraud can be committed in many different ways. It can range from employee embezzlement to email scams. With increasing frequency, fraud continues to occur. No matter what the news reports, without proper controls; fraud will still occur. Proper controls and training need to be put in place at companies and individuals need to have the tools readily available to know what types of fraud can occur and how to prevent it. The purpose of this paper is to show how the different types of fraud can affect everyone and how to mitigate and report the fraudulent activity.
Types of Fraud
Fraud comes in many different shapes and sizes. Some involve businesses while others affect consumers. Businesses typically become victims because their internal controls are not strong enough to prevent employees from embezzling money and changing the accounting records to hide the fraudulent activity. Businesses also see fraudulent activities come from vendors that do not provide the services they promise. If either is allowed to continue, over time, the businesses will lose thousands upon thousands of dollars. On the other hand; consumers can become victims of fraud in more types of instances. One of the more common ones is identity theft. “Identity theft is a term used to describe those
Cases of fraud have been increasing over the years, and different agencies and authorities that have the task of subduing fraud have to get involved and put a stop to it. In the instance of which fraud has been uncovered, it is crucial to be aware of the red flags that were present in relation to fraud and associate them to the factors related to the fraud risk assessment. As Troy Gillard states in the Rd news magazine, a man that broke free after being acknowledged as suspicious when he wanted to take a loan out at the Cash Canada using a stolen ID amongst other official documents that had been stolen. It seemed that the ID and the other documents
Embezzlement seems to be a white collar crime that is victimless. However, when monies are embezzled from a non profit it affects all those involved especially those benefitting from the work of the nonprofit organization. I thought of our local community nonprofit arts foundation. They not only produce a full slate of shows each season, but also provide classes in painting, sculpting, drawing, acting, music, and dance. If they were defrauded in the amount of $93,000 it would affect educational programs and community outreach.
The amount listed is the enrollment agreement was 10,020.00 which gives a difference of :
Internal fraud consists in “a type of fraud that is committed by an individual against an organization. [Furthermore], a perpetrator of fraud engages in activities that are designed to defraud, misappropriate property, or circumvent the regulations, law, or policies of a company”[8]. Not only has the incidence of internal fraud increased in frequency because of the availability of sensitive information such as client details or confidential business documents; moreover, this type of fraud is found in various types of organizations, ranging from corporations, public service institutions and financial institutions. Our analysis will concentrate on the most common and prolific types of internal fraud, namely identity theft, insider trading, loan fraud and wire fraud. Interestingly, PriceWaterhouseCooper conducted a survey that revealed that the “demographics of a typical fraudster are as follows: males (85% of cases), 31-50 years (72% of cases), reached high-school level (50%), Bachelor’s or post graduate degree (50%) and middle or senior management (52%)”[9].
It is important to first gain an understanding of the various types of fraud, in order to aid understanding in regards to the prevention of fraudulent activity. This paper begins with a review of the definition of financial fraud, and identification of the different fraud types. Further, included is an examination of what motivates individuals to commit fraud, including an identification of some of the method in which people commit fraud. A discussion of the importance of the fraud triangle, and how rationalization contributes to fraud is a key area of focus. Finally, there is an examination of some controls that prevent and detect fraudulent behavior, including the value and importance of understanding the nature of fraud for
Healthcare fraud is costly for everybody, as it harms the reputation of the institution or physician committing it, and financially damages the patient being affected.By definition fraud may be defined as intentionally employing surprise, trickery, cunning, deception and unfair ways by which one party cheats another party out of financial resources. In order to educate a healthcare manager regarding fraud , many aspects of fraud must be assessed. This includes the types of fraud, the consequences that come with fraud,the individual(s) committing them, techniques to prevent fraud, and why the healthcare industry is vulnerable to fraud.
According to Daniel F. Dooley (2008), a member of the Commercial Fraud Taskforce, financial fraud with private middle-market companies is on the rise. In fact, Mr. Dooley believes that he has seen more instances of fraud in the past two years than in the previous ten. He notes seven areas in which financial fraud has increased over the past few years:
Which can include your name, mother’s or father’s name, birthday, your current or previous address, any home or cell phone number, bank account details and debit card or credit card personal identification number. Identity fraud and identity theft mostly done at the same time, when one commits an identity theft crime, they are also committing and identity fraud crime.The only thing about identity theft is that it involves victimization, with this being said, this specific form of fraud precisely affects the victim’s life along with others depending on the crime. It could also have an effect towards the government, consumers, health care providers, insurance providers and employers. Identity theft can be described as a situation in which the victim’s personal information is stolen for the criminals own
Identity Theft can be described as a crime in the simplest way. Very common and simple terms like Identity theft and identity fraud are used to describe all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.
Because of rise of the globalization pressures, businesses are required to implement transparency in their business processes and financial records for the benefit of different stakeholders. Every organization is faced by some level of fraud risk which can come from sources both internal and external to the organization. In order to effectively manage fraud risks, the organization must first identify them using fraud risk assessment. In light of this, the paper is intended to make an important discussion about fraud risk assessment for any organization. Different dimensions such as the importance, value, differentiation from other business risks and assessment process are covered in this research.
Being the fastest growing crime of today, it is estimated that every 79 seconds an identity is stolen (Consumer Reports 13). Empty promises made by solicitors in spam e-mail offer a free gift in exchange for personal information. These solicitors have no intention of sending any free gifts, but their scams help them obtain the private information desired. If enough information is given, criminals are able to apply for credit cards, apply for a fraudulent loan under the victim’s name, and make illegal withdrawals from random bank accounts. This is only one of the many ways a person’s identity could be stolen (O’Reilly).
Medical identity theft is when someone that does not have health insurance claims to be you in order to use your personal information to get medical care, like surgery or get prescription drugs. The really bad part is that this type of theft is hard to prove. Also this false information could become part of your medical record. Synthetic Identity Theft is when is when a completely new identification is created using bit and pieces of different people’s information. For example, they may use one person’s social security number and another person address and the use someone else’s name. This type of crime is hard to detect, since the information really doesn’t make anyone information. Criminal identity theft is when someone gives law enforcement someone else information when pull over and taken to jail. They are then release and then go on about their business and the person’s whose identity was stolen is held accountable. This individual may not be aware of this until they are perhaps pulled over in a traffic stop. The last form of identity theft I would like to discuss is identity cloning. This is when someone
Fraud is defined as a deliberate misrepresentation that causes a person or business to suffer damages, often in the form of monetary losses through deception or concealment. And Occupational Fraud as defined by the ACFE is the use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets. Traditional fraud triangle theory by Donald Cressey explains that propensity of fraud occurring in an organization lies on three critical elements which are Pressure, Opportunity, and Rationalization.
The perfect fraud storm occurred between the years 2000 and 2002 involving two of the largest energy and telecom corporations in the United States: Enron and WorldCom. It was determined that both organizations fraudulently overstated assets, created assets from expenses or overstated revenues, costing investors billions of dollars and resulting in both organizations declaring bankruptcy (Albrecht, Albrecht, Albrecht & Zimbelman, 2012). Nine factors contributed to fraud triangle creating this perfect fraud storm, and assisting management in concealing the fraud until exposed and rectified.
A business can not work out without an account system, which includes internal. Internal controls are used by companies to make sure financial information is accurate and valid. Strong internal controls are signs of a financially healthy company and protect the company’s integrity. Strong internal controls can also increase a company’s profitability. There are several types of internal controls that companies used to protect themselves such as: Segregation of duties, asset purchases, supervisor review, internal audits and adequate documents and records. This paper will discuss several topics from a case study about And the Fraud