Where is Fraud Likely? – Part 6: Falsified Receipts

Lawrence R. Beebe, CPA

In this series, we are discussing specific areas where fraud might be likely to occur within an organization and the steps management can take to detect and prevent fraud.

You Can Buy a Receipt Book at a Stationery Store

Just because a receipt is attached to a request for reimbursement, it does not necessarily make the receipt valid. An entity hired us to investigate a situation where an employee was being reimbursed for a substantial number of business […]

Where is Fraud Likely? – Part 5: Petty Cash

Lawrence R. Beebe, CPA

In this series, we are discussing specific areas where fraud might be likely to occur within an organization and the steps management can take to detect and prevent fraud.

Petty Cash Can Be the Tip of the Iceberg

External auditors often ignore petty cash because the amount of the petty cash fund is immaterial to the financial statements.  Even so, the auditor should look at the volume of transactions in petty cash and should scan those transactions looking […]

Online Banking Security and Fraud Prevention

Posting by Lawrence R. Beebe, CPA

Our friends at EagleBank, a local community business bank with offices in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, are reminding their customers of the importance of keeping up-to-date with internet and e-mail best practices in order to decrease the chance of fraudulent activity.  They have provided the following list of recommendations for those who utilize ACH and wire transfers:

1. Provide the bank with a dollar limit for all individual ACH and wire transfer transactions.

2. Provide the bank […]

Where is Fraud Likely? – Part 2: Accounts Receivable Lapping

Lawrence R. Beebe, CPA,

In this series, we are discussing specific areas where fraud might be likely to occur within an organization and the steps management can take to detect and prevent fraud.

A Lack of Segregation of Duties Can Lead to Lapping

As long as entities have had accounts receivable lapping has taken place.  Lapping occurs when someone in the organization steals accounts receivable payments by diverting them.  The person committing the fraud then uses a subsequent payment from a different […]

Small Time PonziScheme Costs Investors $15 Million

John Merchant, CPA ,  CFE

Have you ever heard of Marcia Sladich?  Unless you live in the vicinity of New York City you probably haven’t.  And, perhaps that is lucky for you.  The New York Times reports that Ms. Sladich has been convicted of running what might be called a mini Ponzi scheme.  It can be called mini because her scheme was far less devastating than the scheme originally perpetrated by Charles Ponzi and certainly miniature in relation to the […]

Tis the Season for Gift Card Fraud

John Merchant, CPA, CFE

As holiday shopping escalates during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, so does the potential for gift card fraud.  Gift cards have become a convenient and popular method of gift giving in recent years and sales of these cards are clearly on the rise.  While there is absolutely nothing wrong with purchasing gift cards, you must be careful to avoid being defrauded if you do.

Most gift cards carry both an identification number and a […]

Fraud Schemes Expand to Prescription Drugs

John Merchant, CPA, CFE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation warns that anyone purchasing prescription drugs over the Internet faces an increasingly high probability that they will be the victims of fraud.  Internet sales of counterfeit or ineffective drugs has become big business over the past two years and has now become the focus of international efforts to curtail the activities of scam artists who have found a new and very effective way to make money at the expense of innocent […]