How Data Analytics Can Illuminate Fraud Schemes

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How Data Analytics Can Illuminate Fraud Schemes

Organizations that implement proactive data monitoring detect frauds 58% faster and experience losses that are 52% lower than organizations that don’t, according to the ACFE’s 2018 Report to the Nations. As these numbers indicate, harnessing your organization’s data can have a significant impact on your efforts to detect and prevent fraud. But introducing data analytics into your fraud-fighting toolbox is not a cut-and-dried process. There’s no universal checklist to follow. Every organization has different data to work with, and unique priorities and organizational goals. It takes a hands-on approach to figure out what will work best for you and your organization.

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90-Day CFE Exam Challenge Success Story: Amelia Tercero

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90-Day CFE Exam Challenge Success Story: Amelia Tercero

Amelia Tercero has been one of the most active and engaged members of the ACFE Community. Since joining the ACFE in June 2018, she has posted more than 300 times. Tercero is always eager to share knowledge and experiences with fellow members to learn as much as possible about the anti-fraud profession. It was no surprise when she signed up for the 90-Day CFE Exam Challenge in October 2018, and she brought her lively personality to the challenge group.

Tercero has a background in financial services, mostly in banking, but no matter what her role was, she couldn't keep from identifying, deterring and preventing fraud. She knew that joining the 90-Day CFE Exam Challenge would put her on the fast track to pursuing her professional passion of fighting fraud.

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How to Successfully Prevent Accounting Fraud Using the Pareto Principle

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How to Successfully Prevent Accounting Fraud Using the Pareto Principle

In February 2019, a Meals on Wheels bookkeeper pleaded guilty to stealing more than $88,000. According to court documents, between May 2013 and April 2018, the bookkeeper had access to the organization's bank accounts, debit cards and payroll system. Documents said the bookkeeper used the bank accounts to pay for things like her mortgage, utilities and property tax payments. She frequently disguised these transfers in Meals on Wheels’ internal accounting system to make them appear as they were legitimate Meals on Wheels expenses.

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The Rise and Fall of the 1MDB Mastermind

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The Rise and Fall of the 1MDB Mastermind

Published in September of 2018, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope’s Billion Dollar Whale: The Man who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World is a detailed depiction of one of the largest, most sprawling financial fraud schemes of the 21st century. Wright and Hope, two long-time Wall Street Journal reporters, take the reader through the almost unbelievable tale of Jho Low’s rise to conspicuous wealth and international stardom. As Wright and Hope outline in their author’s note, they hoped not only to explain Low’s methods and motives but also to present a “larger portrait, about capitalism and inequality, told through the life of Low.” By exposing the links between big banks, kleptocracy, and corruption within Hollywood and Wall Street, Wright and Hope elucidate the structural concerns that enabled Low’s scheme while crafting a gripping narrative of infuriating oversights and ostentatious decadence.

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90-Day CFE Exam Challenge Success Story: Nora Koci

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90-Day CFE Exam Challenge Success Story: Nora Koci

Nora Koci is an internal auditor for Ryan Specialty Group, which is based in Chicago, Illinois. She’s in her final semester of pursuing a Masters in Forensic Accounting at Roosevelt University. Her B.A. is in audio arts and acoustics from Columbia College, and she used to work as a stagehand. Moving into audit was a big career change for Koci, and her ultimate goal is to one day be a Special Agent with the FBI.

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