News and analysis on the global fight against fraud
Every year, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) recognizes the outstanding achievements of anti-fraud professionals around the world. The ACFE Awards embody the very best of our profession and honor the efforts of people whose goal is protecting businesses and individuals alike from fraudsters.
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There are only a handful of things that I completely “geek out” over. For a few years in high school, pictures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer tattooed my room, binders, notebooks and tennis bag. In college, my friends and family rarely saw me not wearing a velour jump suit and a trucker hat (thank goodness that phase was short). And now, at the ACFE, I am not embarrassed to say that every fall I become giddy at the thought of researching possible keynote speakers for the ACFE Global Fraud Conference.
The “Sheriff of Wall Street,” the undercover agent, the storyteller and the Enron mastermind are just a few of the keynote speakers to address fraud fighters at this year’s largest-ever 24th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conferencein Las Vegas, Nev., June 23-28, 2013.
We hope to welcome more than 2,400 anti-fraud professionals this June to make this Conference the largest the ACFE has ever held in its history. With 12 parallel tracks and more than 70 sessions, the ACFE Global Fraud Conference continues to get better year after year.
Here is a recap of the keynotes, just in case the description above didn’t quite capture everything:
Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
Known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” U.S. Attorney Bharara has been prosecuting high-profile corporate crime and insider trading cases since taking office in 2009. Bharara has been named by TIME magazine as one of “The Most Influential People in the World,” and one of the Bloomberg Markets Magazine’s “50 Most Influential.”
Chris Mathers, Former Undercover Agent, Consultant
For 20 years, Mathers was employed as an undercover agent for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, personally infiltrating criminal groups in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. He conducted numerous international investigations for the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs Service, Interpol, Scotland Yard and various European federal agencies. Mathers now operates his own crime and risk consulting firm providing advice on organized crime, terror, fraud and money laundering.
Stacy Keach, Actor, Narrator of CNBC’s American Greed
As an award-winning actor of stage, film and television, Keach is currently the narrator of CNBC’s American Greed, an original primetime series that examines high-profile corporate and white-collar crimes.
Andrew Fastow, Convicted Fraudster*, Former Enron CFO
Fastow was one of the accounting masterminds at Enron behind a complex web of off-balance sheet special purpose entities used to conceal years of massive loses. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy before serving five years in prison.
I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas this June! To find more about the Conference, visit FraudConference.com.
*The ACFE does not compensate convicted fraudsters.
Allan Bachman, CFE
ACFE Education Manager
Monday morning during the opening session of the Fifth Annual South African ACFE Chapter Fraud Conference I said, “Good morning” in 12 languages, representing most of the 18 nations in attendance. My efforts were well received and much appreciated, and it created an immediate bond with the attendees. Every ACFE conference is truly an international event, and this event was no exception.
The South African ACFE Chapter Fraud Conference is the second largest anti-fraud conference in the world after our ACFE Annual Fraud Conference. This conference, however, is fully hosted by the ACFE South Africa Chapter. This year, they welcomed more than 700 attendees over three full days of events; quite an accomplishment.
Speakers from across Africa addressed issues familiar everywhere: bribery, corruption, procurement fraud and much more.
Keynote speaker Stephen Powell, a former prosecutor from Cape Town, had the attendees amazed and amused with his stories of corruption and his personal examples. His expertise in international laws against bribery and corruption made him a perfect fit for the conference. Another keynote included the current public prosecutor in South Africa, Thuli Madonsela, who praised the efforts of Certified Fraud Examiners in their ongoing efforts to deter and detect fraud. Read more about Madonsela's address.
I saw many attendees whom I had the privilege to meet at one of our earlier ACFE Annual Fraud Conferences, and I made many new acquaintances from almost every country in Africa. Their problems are both common to all anti-fraud professionals and unique in some respects. The coordination, collaboration and cooperation among countries remain critical to the anti-fraud effort.
I would like to thank Jaco de Jäger, the ACFE South Africa Chapter and the staff that hosted me. It was truly a successful event that I hope to attend in the future.
Mandy Moody
ACFE Social Media Specialist
According to Don Rabon, CFE, presenter of today's session, "Staying Focused During the Interview" most adults can't sustain attention for more than 12 minutes. If that's true, then I promise this will be a quick read.
Rabon, president of Successful Interview Techniques and one of the ACFE's most popular speakers, gave attendees practical advice on how to stay attentive during an interview. He warned fraud fighters that a lack of attentiveness could have a direct impact on gathering valuable information to uncover fraud. Rabon emphasized that attentiveness is just like any other skill of an investigator: it can be learned, practiced and improved.
"We are losing the ability to stay focused for a good length of time," Rabon said. "We only have so much attention currency to distribute; that's why they call it 'paying' attention.' "
Some ways we can be more attentive is to "go to a happy place" when interviewing and, above all, stop and think. For many of us, taking the time to stop during an interview or investigation seems counterintuitive, but, as Rabon pointed out, there is a lot we can miss when we aren't or have stopped paying attention. Things we tend to miss are subtle or overt changes in behavior, critical changes that may lead to a discovery. They don't necessarily mean the interviewee is being deceptive, but it does allow us to direct follow up questions and observe whether the interviewee continues to be forthcoming, or if resistance increases.
Through two attention-building exercises, Rabon showed attendees ways to flex their attentiveness muscles. One involved establishing normal eye contact, providing auditory confirmations like slow, rhythmic "mmm-hmms," visual confirmation like head nodding and the repetition of a communication marker. Communication markers are the signals we give that indicate we are going to stop talking and turn the conversation over to the other person.
Scott Patterson
ACFE Senior Media Relations Specialist
Fraud has a significant impact on organizations' bottom lines worldwide, according to the ACFE's newly published 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. For small businesses, the news only gets worse.
The Report finds that "occupational fraud is a significant threat to small businesses. The smallest organizations in our study suffered the largest median losses. These organizations typically employ fewer anti-fraud controls than their larger counterparts, which increases their vulnerability to fraud."
It is against this backdrop that Jon McDowall, CFE, PCI, CIFI, presented "Ten Steps to a More Secure Small Business." The session provided an understanding of the current and emerging fraud risks facing small businesses and best practices for addressing those risks.
Most importantly, McDowall revealed actionable steps that anti-fraud professionals can take to reduce their company's (or client's) fraud risks. "We're beyond the time where you can just trust," said McDowall. "Small business were flying under the radar of fraudsters. Not anymore."
Among those steps to secure your business, a few you might not have considered:
News and analysis on the global fight against fraud.
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