Former Brisbane netball leader Deborah Morton jailed for fraud

A Brisbane netball association badly hit in the city's flood disaster suffered a double blow when its president stole more than $100,000 to feed a gambling addiction, a court has heard.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/former-brisbane-netball-leader-deborah-morton--jailed-for-fraud-20131217-2zi40.html#ixzz2nnBkgTJh

Threat intelligence starts with the human element

It can be easy to forget that there are people behind just about everything that happens on the internet. However complicated a technology may be, it was engineered by people and is used by people too, and people are predictable.

Read more at http://www.scmagazine.com/threat-intelligence-starts-with-the-human-element/article/322589/

Regional Qld Health official Graem Kelly charged with fraud

Read more at:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-18/regional-qld-health-official-charged-with-fraud/5098202

A Bank, A Broker, Loans and Forged Documents

Read more at:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/cba-was-aware-of-fraud-allegations-20131102-2wtjw.html

Employee fraud in Australia: Meet the bank employees who stole $217 million over 13 years

They’ve worked in their jobs for more than 10 years, they’ve got a taste for luxury and more often than not they have a gambling addiction. Employers watch out – they could be stealing millions of dollars from your company (or clients).

For the Article:
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/legal/34468-employee-fraud-in-australia-meet-the-bank-employees-who-stole-217-million-over-13-years.html

For the Warfield Report from:
http://www.warfield.com.au/publications.html

7 Simple Ways to Safeguard Your Sensitive Data

These tips apply to businesses as well as to your home environment.

http://www.acfeinsights.com/acfe-insights/2013/11/5/7-simple-ways-to-safeguard-sensitive-data.html

Small Business Scams - Be aware of the different types

http://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Small%20business%20scams%20fact%20sheet.pdf

Fraud in construction is commonplace across Australia, Canada, India, the UK and the US........

In the UK, the three biggest areas of construction fraud are bid rigging, alterations to contracts and false misrepresentation, which covers use of illegal workers, falsifying reports, results or certificates, and non-compliance with regulations.

Read more at
http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2013/global-construction-fraud-predicted-to-hit-941-billion/

Is your PABX password 0000 or 1234?

Kiwi ISP takes action over PABX fraud

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/362847,kiwi-isp-takes-action-over-pabx-fraud.aspx

Costly cybercrime fraud, value this year to surpass RM1.1bil of last year - Here are some handy hints

Cyber Security Malaysia chief technology officer Dr Solahuddin Shamsuddin  said “Actually, to fight this type of cyber-crime is simple – just increase the awareness of people to more careful and vigilant in following the links sent to their e-mail accounts.

“If you receive a suspicious e-mail, never try to click on the link provided. On the other hand, the public should go to their banking sites independently by typing website address themselves.

“They could also click on the padlock icon on the browser to ensure the certificates and domain address really belong to the bank,” he said.

For more read: http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/10/23/Costly-cybercrime-fraud-Value-this-year-expected-to-surpass-2012s-RM11bil.aspx

Why We Do What We Do: The ACFE’s Global Fraud Survey

"The average corporate fraud lasts up to 18 months before detection and involves more than $140,000.” - Walt Pavlo, “Forget NSA Surveillance, Your Company is Watching You," Forbes.com, June 26, 2013

"Research shows that worldwide, payroll fraud comprises 8.5 per cent of occupational fraud and costs an average of £46,195 per payroll fraud case." - UK National Fraud Authority, Annual Fraud Indicator, March 2012

"… It's not surprising that fraud in the workplace increased during the economic crisis and recession. The median loss tied to occupational fraud is $160,000 … so the issue is something about which many companies are rightfully concerned. Small businesses are especially vulnerable." - The Huffington Post, June 5, 2012

Read more at: http://www.acfeinsights.com/acfe-insights/2013/10/17/why-we-do-what-we-do-the-acfes-global-fraud-survey.html

4 Kinds of Fraud That Could Destroy Your Business

Some true stories that highlight four common types of fraud for business owners and ways they can be avoided.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227689#

Virus targets the social network in new fraud twist

(Reuters) - In the world of cyber fraud, a fake fan on Instagram can be worth five times more than a stolen credit card number.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/16/us-instagram-cyberfraud-idUSBRE97F0XD20130816

SMEs leave fraud door wide open

An increasing number of SMEs are failing to protect themselves against the risks of employee fraud, according to accounting and advisory firm William Buck.
Leo Tutt, head of the firm’s audit focus group said many SMEs were overlooking basic control procedures, leaving the door open for opportunistic employees.

Read more at:
http://www.insurancebusinessonline.com.au/news/smes-leave-fraud-door-wide-open-178011.aspx

"Inside the Fraudster’s Mind" - Dr Joseph T Wells' award winning article

Dr. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, has received the 2013 Outstanding Contributor Award from Internal Auditor magazine. The article is cited for its "outstanding quality, clear presentation of ideas, practicality, and relevance to the continuing practice of internal auditing."

Read it at:
http://www.theiia.org/intAuditor/feature-articles/2012/april/inside-the-fraudsters-mind/

Emerging Threat to Data Security - Storing Data in the Shadows & on the Cloud

In the rush to embrace developing technologies, organizations and their employees often unwittingly increase the risks of data loss. The convergence of cloud computing and powerful employee mobile devices means the goals of securing sensitive data and maintaining regulatory compliance are becoming more difficult. Many employees today incorporate personal devices into their daily work routine, often storing precious company documents on the same smart phones that access various social media apps, and are routinely left in movie theaters, taxis and restaurants.

Read more at:
http://www.acfe.com/fraud-examiner.aspx?id=4294978987

Serious Fraud Office (UK) charges two brokers in the Libor Scandal

Britain's fraud prosecutor on Monday charged two former brokers at interdealer broker RP Martin with conspiracy to defraud, stepping up its investigation into the rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/15/us-libor-britain-charges-idUSBRE96E0HM20130715

The Steggles 'free to roam' chickens we eat from the supermarket, KFC, Red Rooster, Nando's, Subway, Pizza Hut and McDonalds actually only have the area of an A4 piece of paper to move about in.

ACCC slams Steggles for 'false' statements about chooks.  The chicken giant supplies poultry to Australia's biggest fast food chains including KFC, Red Rooster, Nando's, Subway, Pizza Hut and McDonalds.

http://www.rangenews.com.au/news/accc-slams-steggles-misleading-conduct-chooks/1938471/

Bringing detection capability in line with traders - ASIC's real-time war on fraud.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/349153,asics-real-time-war-on-fraud.aspx

A Simple Ethical Rule of Thumb: Would You Tell Your Kids?

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130528234855-91343717-would-you-tell-your-kids?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokuq/PZKXonjHpfsX66OgpW6Wg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIGT8N0aPyQAgobGp5I5FELQrjYSa5yt6cMXg%3D%3D

Intelligence linked to ability to ignore distractions

All in the mind: blocking out background distractions is a feature of people with higher IQs.....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22639039

Dutch trader arrested for 'horsemeat fraud'

An example of vendor/supplier fraud that led to meatballs in Ikea stores, sausages in Russia and frozen burgers in Britain's Tesco chain being pulled from shelves by the millions.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h45ZLK7vRCuXOeX7JlGnL387RIFA?docId=CNG.2669686247d25885a8fa04b63b078a6f.331

How I 'stole' $14 million from a bank: A security tester's tale

How safe are banks?

http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/15/technology/security/bank-heist/index.html

Small Business Fraud and the Trusted Employee - Protecting against unique vulnerabilities

Small businesses have it rough.  They're particularly vulnerable to fraud because they lack the resources to implement complete systems of internal controls and properly segregate accounting duties among their limited staff.

Read more at .......
http://www.acfe.com/article.aspx?id=4294976289

Hunter Valley Training Company Board Members Caught Up In $260K Fraud

It was common practice for the signatures of Hunter Valley Training Company board members, Milton Morris and Kay Sharp, to be forged on cheques and documents by an office manager, the Maitland Local Court heard.........
http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/1468851/hvtc-board-members-caught-up-in-260000-fraud-scandal/?cs=171

Bribery: The certainty of uncertainty

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/04/22/bribery-the-certainty-uncertainty.html

The conman's detector that bombed

"The "detectors" he had sold to the Iraqi Government for US$85 million were useless, the technology behind them non-existent, based on novelty golf-ball finders."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10879623

Corruption as well as bribery an evil

http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/04/23/corruption-as-well-as-bribery-an-evil/

Liquidators find finance fraud on rise

Discovery of fraud in the financial statements produced by staff within companies is increasing, according to liquidators examining recent corporate collapses........more financial statement fraud including staff fudging financial reports, excluding information, faking revenue or asset value, or understating expenses.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/liquidators-find-finance-fraud-on-rise-20130414-2htqq.html#ixzz2QV8gWGGT

Horsemeat scandal: Dutch uncover large-scale meat fraud

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22098763

Simple fraud funded fraudster's incredible double life

The story of a dummy consultancy company, a 'trusted' employee, a call girl and $20M and.......

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/simple-fraud-funded-fraudsters-incredible-double-life-20130405-2hcfk.html

The World's Most Ethical Companies

Only the National Australia Bank and the Westpac Bank make the list for Australia.....

http://m1.ethisphere.com/wme2013/index.html

Brisbane: False Invoicing - an accounts payable clerk, received $769,029.41 by providing 181 fraudulent invoices and having company funds deposited into her daughter's bank account.

BRISBANE grandmother Sonja McLeod loved nothing more than making family, friends and Third World children happy by lavishing them with gifts and financial support.     

But the only way the 53-year-old was able to make that happen was fleecing her employer out of almost $770,000 over a five year period.  

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sonja-mcleod-jailed-for-fleecing-employer-lindsay-australia-of-770k-to-spend-on-gifts-and-charity/story-e6freoof-1226606826817

Gobbler's Knob: Punxsutawney Phil charged with fraud!?

Buckeye Chuck, the Ohio groundhog who also forecast an early spring, will get immunity if he testifies against Phil......

http://au.news.yahoo.com/odd/a/-/odd/16429881/punxsutawney-phil-charged-with-fraud-for-early-spring-forecast/

Queensland: Government departments' fraud risk 'unacceptably high'

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/government-departments-fraud-risk-unacceptably-high-20130320-2gfn9.html

Behind ‘Tears and Hugs,’ a Staggering Fraud

Behind ‘Tears and Hugs,’ a Staggering Fraud

Brisbane: Queensland Health $16m fraud and the fake prince

Morehu-Barlow's criminal record stretched back to 1998 in New Zealand when he defrauded his employer of about $32,000 and he was convicted in 1999 and given an eight-month, non-residential sentence.

In September 2007 he committed his first fraud at Queensland Health, funnelling a few thousand dollars into his own bank account.  It grew from there with Morehu-Barlow setting up a fake charity called Healthy Initiatives and Choices and authorising Queensland Health grants to this body.

To uncover the fraud all someone in the department had to do was put the Australian Business Number into a free website search and they would have been led to Morehu-Barlow's name and he had even listed his own Teneriffe address and phone number as the contacts for the organisation.

Queensland Health came close to busting him when they conducted an audit and one transaction to Healthy Initiatives and Choices was selected at random to be checked.  They requested the documentation from Morehu-Barlow but he just simply did not hand it over and they did not chase it up.

A simple fraud; bound to be discovered but not until December 2011!

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/from-scavenging-for-food-to-a-multimilliondollar-lifestyle-built-on-fraud-20130319-2gd64.html#ixzz2O2WCuAv3

& more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-19/fake-prince-gets-14-years-jail-over-16m-fraud/4581720

& more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fake-prince-splashed-the-cash-at-clubs-20130319-2gd6p.html

Iraq: The real intelligence failure...

Iraq: The real intelligence failure was not the failure to uncover certain facts, but a failure to consider alternative hypotheses.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2013/03/18/Iraq-The-real-intelligence-failure.aspx

Fraud paid for Leighton Contractors finance manager's high life including his escort

THE high-priced call-girl caught his eye on an escort website and became an expensive obsession that only ended when he was arrested for a record $20 million fraud

http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/fraud-paid-for-leighton-contractors-finance-manager-damian-ocarrigans-high-life-as-stolen-funds-used-to-keep-escort-belinda-leonard-at-his-beck-and-call/story-fnda1bsz-1226598901950

Scamworld: 'Get rich quick' schemes mutate into an online monster

You know the story - If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it probably is just that......
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/2984893/scamworld-get-rich-quick-schemes-mutate-into-an-online-monster

Corporate Ethics - “Whatever you do, do not take away the core values of respect, responsibility and integrity".

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2013/03/06/ceos-emphasize-trust-is-anchor-of-a-strong-corporate-ethics-philosophy/

Eliminating business distractions - first email then Powerpoint presentations and meetings.

An interesting systems re-engineering example from a French technology firm....

http://paulwallbank.com/2013/03/13/first-we-kill-email-then-powerpoint/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=507572&utm_campaign=Nightly_%272013-03-13+13:30:00%27

Former Bundaberg nurse under investigation for flood fraud

http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/former-nurse-under-investigation-flood-fraud/1790079/

Government defers reforms to small business credit

http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/cpa-site/hs.xsl/knowledge-financial-policy-credit-reform-small-business.html?Division=Queensland&Segment=The+Rest

Woman charged with $86m fraud - Viking Group

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/woman-charged-with-86m-fraud-20130301-2fa62.html


Also see the July 2011 story....

$50m falls off a truck

http://www.smh.com.au/business/50m-falls-off-a-truck-20110712-1hc6q.html

A big year for the flies

Selling sterile mosquitoes and food made from larvae are among one man's ideas to stop the world from committing ecocide

http://www.itbdigital.com/opinion/2013/02/07/a-big-year-for-the-flies/

Decision Management: Business Intelligence's Missing Piece

http://smartdatacollective.com/cmatignon/107751/decision-management-business-intelligence

How to start the Ethics Conversation

From ACFE Insights
http://www.acfeinsights.com/acfe-insights/2013/2/21/how-to-start-the-ethics-conversation.html

Australian businesses have lost $373 million to fraud: Five ways to make sure you're not a victim

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/financial-services-and-insurance/054358-australian-businesses-have-lost-373-million-to-fraud-five-ways-to-make-sure-you-re-not-a-victim.html

Millions of Dollars lost to Fraud

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/business-fraud-is-no-cheap-trick/story-fn7ve1gj-1226585144751

An FBI Case - Optometrist Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud Charge

Instead of billing Medicare for the actual service Jeffrey Sponseller (the Optometrist) was providing at the nursing homes, he claimed that he was conducting the most expensive type of eye examination, which typically lasts 45 minutes!
http://www.fbi.gov/atlanta/press-releases/2013/augusta-optometrist-pleads-guilty-to-health-care-fraud-charge

Leighton Contractors Sues Over Fraud

Damian Victor O'Carrigan, former long-time finance manager for Construction giant Leighton Contractors and part of the publicly listed Leighton Holdings (Australia's largest project development and contracting group) will be sentenced in April after pleading guilty to stealing more than $20 million from Leighton's coffers over 12 years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/former-leighton-contractors-manager-damian-victor-ocarrigan-pleads-guilty-to-simple-20m-deception/story-e6frg6n6-1226523111799

Leighton Contractors is now suing the wife, daughter and a female acquaintance of O'Carrigan for gifts received.

False documentation in loan and lease contracts, misappropriated cheques from company accounts and unlawful credit card transactions.

Wattle Park man charged with $1 million fraud.......http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/wattle-park-man-charged-with-1-million-fraud/story-e6frea83-1226579096225

Recycler Sims Metal Management will write down the value of inventory at its British operations by $78 million after uncovering a possible case of fraud.

A case of overvalued inventories.....http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?id=845907

Australian Securities & Investments Commission say Fraud a 'continuing' trend in broking

http://www.brokernews.com.au/news/breaking-news/fraud-is-a-continuing-sore-in-the-side-of-the-broker-industry-asic-148546.aspx?p=1

ATO scramble to contain fraud

http://www.afr.com/p/technology/ato_scramble_to_contain_fraud_SId6DT59IKDK0C30Ra7gFJ

The wife of Brisbane businessman Damian O'Carrigan was shocked at revelations of serial affairs and a $20m fraud

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/the-wife-of-brisbane-businessman-damian-ocarrigan-was-shocked-at-revelations-of-serial-affairs-and-a-20m-fraud/story-e6freon6-1226574533108

IBM security tool can catch insider threats, fraud

See more at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/013013-ibm-security-266269.html

Ex-banker accused of helping in Olympus fraud granted bail

ReutersJanuary 26, 2013, 11:54 am

 

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/15958954/ex-banker-accused-of-helping-in-olympus-fraud-granted-bail/

 

ACFE's 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse

The ACFE's 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse is based on data compiled from a study of 1,388 cases of occupational fraud that occurred worldwide between January 2010 and December 2011. All information was provided by the Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated those cases. The fraud cases in our study came from 94 nations — providing a truly global view into the plague of occupational fraud.

See More.....ACFE 2012 Report Key Findings & Highlights