Best-Selling Author of "Billion-Dollar Whale" Says It Is “Unlikely” That Singapore and Hong Kong Will Take Meaningful Action Against Fraud

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Best-Selling Author of "Billion-Dollar Whale" Says It Is “Unlikely” That Singapore and Hong Kong Will Take Meaningful Action Against Fraud

Although the 1MDB scandal first came to light in 2015, the effects are still being felt in the Asia-Pacific region today. “It’s become clear that banks and other financial firms in Singapore and Hong Kong are facilitators of fraud,” said best-selling author Tom Wright. “Singapore took action to jail some bankers, but Hong Kong has yet to act. Both places will have to take further action to ensure bad actors don’t continue to operate on their soil, but this is unlikely.”

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Can You Teach Ethical Behavior?

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Can You Teach Ethical Behavior?

Ethics training is hardly a foreign concept to fraud examiners. Most organizations have some form of mandatory ethics training as a part of their compliance programs. But can you actually teach people to make ethical decisions? Or are these trainings only a formality?

 Mary Breslin, founder of Verracy Training and Consulting, explored this topic with attendees at the 30th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference on Tuesday. “How do we teach ethics in a way that people actualyl learn ethical decision-making skills?” she asked.

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How A Fraudster's First Stolen Dollar Turned Into Much More

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How A Fraudster's First Stolen Dollar Turned Into Much More

“I was desperately in love with the things of the world,” said convicted fraudster* Tom Hughes at the closing session of the 30th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. “I had to have stuff that would never love me back. Whether it was electronics in the house, or a new camera, or a new guitar or a weekend in Bermuda with my wife, I had to have stuff.”

During a Q&A interview with John Gill, J.D., CFE, ACFE Vice President – Education, Hughes detailed his motivations behind his crimes (like greed) and why he began stealing from the bank in the first place. 

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The Truth About the Dark Web Fraud Trade

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The Truth About the Dark Web Fraud Trade

The dark web is kind of like the last season of Game of Thrones; it’s not all good, but it’s not all bad either. In her session today, Emily Wilson, CFE, VP of Research at Terbium Labs, discussed the dark web fraud economy thriving just below the accessible search engines we visit every day.

According to Wilson, the dark web is not found through a Google search and it requires special technology called TOR for access. The technology is used to encrypt a user’s IP address and browsing history to give you an anonymous presence while you search. The dark web lives below the clear web and the deep web, and is booming with activity.

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Bill Browder Fights Against Corruption in Sergei Magnitsky’s Name

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Bill Browder Fights Against Corruption in Sergei Magnitsky’s Name

For much of his life, Bill Browder’s goal was simple: to be the most successful capitalist in Eastern Europe. And he reached his goal there and in Russia. He made fortunes and lost them and then made them again. But that all changed in 2009 when his lawyer and friend, Sergei Magnitsky, died in prison under suspicious circumstances one month after submitting detailed documentation of a governmental scandal to Russian investigators. The year before, Magnitsky had exposed a complicated $230 million web of tax-refund fraud and graft involving Russian government officials. And for his courageous efforts, he lost his life.

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Emerging Trends Affecting the Admission-Seeking Interview

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Emerging Trends Affecting the Admission-Seeking Interview

A tense interview scene is a familiar staple in almost every dramatic cop show or movie made in the last 50 years. Sometimes there’s a good cop and a bad cop who use psychological push and pull in their interrogation. Sometimes it’s one determined veteran of the force, or rookie, that will do anything to get the suspect to confess. Emotions are visibly high and eventually the suspect breaks down and spills the entire account of their crimes.

While that romanticized version is great for shows that need to provide closure in under an hour, many fraud examiners know that real interviews are much more complicated. The Reid Technique, which focuses on lie detection and obtaining a confession, has been a popular interview strategy for some time for investigators. However, changing the goal for interviews from admission-seeking to information-seeking is becoming more popular — and some say it’s helping cut down on false or coerced confessions.

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