Becoming a Successful Online Sleuth in Your Investigations

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Becoming a Successful Online Sleuth in Your Investigations

If you Google your name, you will find many tidbits on yourself that are, somehow, public information – even information that you tried very hard to keep private. It may be a nuisance to many, but to investigators, publicly available information or open-source intelligence (OSINT) is quite handy. This was the subject of “Use Public Information to Your Advantage in Fraud Investigations,” an educational session from ACFE Regent and Senior Vice President of J.S. Held LLC, Natalie Lewis, CFE, CPA/CFF.

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Deepfake Threats and How to Counter Them

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Deepfake Threats and How to Counter Them

“Technology is neither good nor bad,” said spy and human hacker, Peter Warmka, CFE, CPP, at the early morning session on the final main conference day of the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. It depends on how it’s being used. Deepfakes and artificial intelligence (AI), just like other types of technology, can be used for good purposes as well as manipulation and to cause harm. Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) can respond by understanding the technology, countering its risks and constant verification. 

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Strength Through Numbers: Building Up an Army of Fraud Fighters

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Strength Through Numbers: Building Up an Army of Fraud Fighters

To prevent fraud within your organization, you will need to build an army of fraud fighters. This was the general message Mary Breslin, CFE, CIA, ACA conveyed in her educational session at the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, titled “Fraud Awareness 2.0: An Army of Fraud Fighters.” 

So, why does an army need to be established? According to Breslin, most people are not 100% clear on what fraud is and those people need some help learning about fraud through examples. Many people don’t know how to differentiate waste and abuse from fraud, so that’s where we can come in and provide a little nudge.

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Strategies for Tackling Elder Fraud

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Strategies for Tackling Elder Fraud

Amy Nofziger, CFE, director of victim support for AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, led a lively – and sometimes sobering  – conversation with attendees during her roundtable discussion of elder fraud on Wednesday, the last day of the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. During the session, attendees put their heads together to strategize ways to help people realize when they’ve been victimized by a romance scam, erase the stigma of being a victim of fraud, contemplate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on consumer fraud and how to talk to loved ones about fraud.

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Can a Ghost be Revived? The Case Study of a Missing Nonprofit 

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Can a Ghost be Revived? The Case Study of a Missing Nonprofit 

At the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference Michael Booher, CFE, CPA at the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury scared his audience with a fraud ghost story during his session “Ghost Story: A Case Study of a Nonprofit That Disappeared.” The subject company of the investigation, Phases, Inc., was a nonprofit dedicated to helping women with substance abuse issues in Tennessee. Phases, Inc. was a recipient of a grant from the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (MHSAS), when MHSAS noticed a red flag and a tip was reported to the Comptroller of the Treasury.  

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Keys to Successful Sanctions Compliance 

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Keys to Successful Sanctions Compliance 

During their final session on Tuesday afternoon at the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Enterprise Content Manager Rabihah Butler, Esq., and Jacob Denman, product marketing manager of risk, compliance and governance at Thomson Reuters discussed the nature of major sanctions trends and advocated for proper screening and controls when it comes to sanctions compliance. 

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