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From the book Uncovering Fraud

True fraud stories

Real and reported cases, told by the forensic accountant who investigated many of them. Selected from David Malamed’s award-winning magazine column.

It’s not personal... Find Me the Money Locating and recovering assets has always been an integral part of fraud investigations, but today that’s become the new mantra. So many firms these days care only about recovery. 10 min read It’s not personal... Help, Police! If you work as a fraud investigator, you have likely been asked by a client whether they should involve the police. I’ve never found it easy to answer this question because so much depends… 9 min read It’s just too easy! Investment Fraud: Too Good to Be True Despite numerous high-profile examples of investment fraud, it seems the scam is always with us. Therefore, CPAs must make sure they know which red flags to look out for when giving a… 9 min read Fraud Fraud Everywhere Bitcoins: The New Way to Hide Assets in a Divorce It is by no means uncommon for a spouse in a divorce case to resist paying an assessed settlement or to downplay or hide assets to keep them from the other spouse. Although many partners… 6 min read It’s just too easy! Send Me the Money! I’ve investigated virtually every type of fraud but this one is particularly baffling. How could a hacker get people to conform to his will and send money without proper authorization? As… 7 min read The Inside Man/Woman Trust Your Gut, but Follow the Facts I am confident that every investigator has, at one or more times in their career, arrived at an early-on assumption about the main details of a case. It’s human nature to do so and quite… 10 min read Fraud Fraud Everywhere Don’t Be the Victim Those of us who investigate fraud understandably focus our attention on the files we’re working on. We can have a tendency to look primarily outward and, as a result, sometimes pay less… 9 min read It’s not personal... Taking the Stand As we all know, few matters end up in court. A settlement, often at the last minute, is the norm. But some cases do go to trial and every fraud investigator must be ready to testify in… 10 min read The Inside Man/Woman Should You Whistle Where You Work? Whistleblowers often play an important role in an investigation. However, despite ongoing attempts by governments to protect those who come forward, the plight of most whistleblowers is not… 11 min read It’s not personal... Friendly Fraudsters This is one of my favorite columns. It tells the story of a social experiment I conducted in 2011 regarding social media and fraud. That’s a long time ago in terms of the proliferation and… 10 min read It’s just too easy! Mortgage Fraud on the Rise As housing prices increase, so too have the incidences of mortgage fraud. In 2018, CNBC reported that this type of fraud was so prevalent that “one in every 109 mortgage applications is… 6 min read It’s not personal... A Dangerous Occupation? The work of a forensic investigator can be dangerous. We are often dealing with people who might fit the definition of psychopath or sociopath. Or, in the case of Ben Affleck’s CPA… 9 min read It’s just too easy! The Panama Papers In early May 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released what became known as the Panama Papers — 11.5 million documents that detailed the use of more than… 7 min read Fraud Fraud Everywhere Stupid Fraud Tricks Not all fraudsters are created equal. While some are cunning and clever, many are inept and just plain dumb. What better way to end the book than to celebrate the ones who didn’t get away… 10 min read

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