Investigation

Pirates of the North Atlantic

Commercial fisherman, Carlos Rafael, known as “the Codfather” in New Bedford, Massachusetts, spent years selling thousands of pounds of misrepresented catch under the table for cash, laundered his money and overvalued his business to the IRS, among other crimes. His illegal monopoly predated well-intentioned conservation efforts of governments and citizen groups that inadvertently might have created an environment ripe for fraudulent fishing and reporting activities.

Fraud and the North Korean cyberthreat

North Korean state-sponsored cyberfraudsters are attracting increasing attention and, so far, have been outsmarting the government authorities pursuing them. Here’s what fraud examiners can learn from the authoritarian regime’s tricks to exploit the latest technology and what they need to know to stop them.

Navigating the choppy waters of internal whistleblowing

All whistleblowers pay huge costs for their honesty and courage. But internal whistleblowers, who have few legal protections, endure the greatest hardships. Here’s what you need to know to support and encourage them and to protect yourself if you ever become a whistleblower.

Catching health care fraud with statistical graphics

Inflating codes that determine how much Medicare and Medicaid pay to health care providers is common practice among fraudsters. Now they’re doing it in increasingly sophisticated ways. Here we examine how statistical graphics can help spot upcoding in what can be an arcane and complicated billing process.

A matter of trust

Stories of criminals hiding ill-gotten gains in offshore trusts have become all too common. But a new age of transparency has begun as governments look to lift the veil covering this secretive world. Here we examine the history of offshore trusts and how fraudsters have gamed the system to their advantage.

Inheritance scam, improving cybersecurity protection and what to do if you get scammed

Rich relative died? Your boss wanting you to click on an email’s attachment? Don’t be fooled. And here’s advice if you do succumb to scams.

Old tactics, new landscape

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, discusses the importance of understanding cybercrime and the tactics used by cybercriminals to prevent fraud in an increasing complex financial landscape.

Using technology-assisted review to uncover suspicious transactions

Technology-assisted review (TAR) has been used for nearly two decades in e-discovery matters to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and speed up the often tedious task of manually reviewing emails and user documents for relevance. Fraud examiners can also use TAR techniques (with some guard rails) to find potentially improper payments (PIPs) or transactions in structured data.

Gogi Overhoff, CFE

Long before she became a fraud examiner, Gogi Overhoff, CFE, had her sights set on becoming an actress. But instead of a life on stage, she shines a spotlight on licensed accountants accused of defrauding their clients in her role as an investigator for the California Board of Accountancy.

Preparing for deposition war

Learn from this CFE as he prepares for his first deposition as an expert witness, endures the questioning and ponders how his colleagues’ advice contributed to his success.

Back together again

Fraud examiners came together for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in June. The association’s first hybrid event for both in-person and virtual participants enjoyed record attendance and has proven to be a winning formula.

Ricky D. Sluder, CFE

Ricky D. Sluder, CFE, first discovered a knack for solving fraud cases when he was a detective in Dallas County, Texas. Now the head of healthcare value engineering for Shift Technology is using his investigative know-how to help other investigators better prevent and detect fraud.