Fraud Auditing, Detection, and Prevention Blog

The answers to last blog's trivia:

Nick worked in the Singapore office: Internally what was the slang term for the Singapore office? Fortress Singapore. FYI, this is not a reflection on Singapore the country but the management in the Singapore office.

What was the name of the account Nick used to process his unauthorized trades? 88888

Why did the auditors fail to detect the unauthorized trades? The illicit stock trades were recorded in the 88888 account. The IT department was told that the 88888 account was an error-clearing account, therefore no need to print the 88888 account on the stock trading register.

What event caused Nick’s fraud scheme to become visible? An earthquake in Japan caused the market to go in a different direction than his expectation causing the losses to become larger than he could conceal.

Why is this important to the auditing profession? My guess, since the auditors were auditing around the computer, they did not know about the 88888 account. Fraud data analytics would have had the opportunity to detect these trades. At least, I hope.

Who caused the failure of a bank via illicit stock trades? Nick Leeson

Who almost caused the failure of a bank due to illicit stock trades? Jérôme Kerviel 

What carpet cleaner was listed on Forbes? Barry Minkow

Which was the first widely publicized case of computer crime to conceal a financial statement fraud? Equity Funding. I remember when this case was first publicized, and I must admit, it started with my fascination with fraud as an auditor.

Fraud Trivia: Famous Scammers - answers to the last blog

What is the name of the first “confidence man”? William Thompson

What is the name of the first “confidence queen”? Bertha Heyman

Who sold an imaginary country? Gregor MacGregor

Who sold the Eiffel tower? Victor Lustig

Lastly, who is famous for selling Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant’s Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty? George Parker

Last Month's Trivia answers

What are the 10 most common sources of food fraud? Hint: Identify the food item.

According to scientists, the most common sources of food fraud are olive oil, milk, honey, saffron, orange juice, apple juice, grape wine, vanilla extract, and fish. Think about that the next time you go to the grocery store!

On which day of the year are online dates most vulnerable to fraud schemes?

Valentine’s day -- the heart wants what the heart wants! Does this make us vulnerable?

In the USA alone, romance swindles cost how many millions of dollars in one year?

Romance frauds resulted in losses of over $300 million in the US in 2021.

How does the sophistication of fraud concealment, apply to online dating fraud?

The romance scammer uses techniques to make you believe that their love for you is real. Fraudsters, also use techniques to make fraudulent transactions look real!

Check out the answers to last month's Trivia Quiz and why it matters for making our profession the number one reason for fraud detection:

How much more money is laundered in fiat currencies than in cryptocurrency?

400 times more money is laundered in fiat currencies than in cryptocurrency.

What percentage of system-generated alerts against money laundering resulted in false positives?

95% of system-generated alerts against money laundering resulted in false positives.

According to money laundering statistics of 2020, what percent of laundered money goes undetected?

90% of laundered money remains undetected, according to money laundering statistics of 2020. 

Source: Legal Jobs Blog

Last month’s trivia questions and answers

Besides the fraud triangle, what other shapes are used to describe the theory of why people commit fraud.

 The fraud diamond and the fraud pentagon.

 In what year did Dr. Cressy publish the fraud triangle?

This is an interesting question because there seem to be conflicting thoughts on this subject. With that said, I will say the study was never published by Dr. Cressey, based on what I believe is a reliable source. This does not diminish the importance of the fraud triangle, it is just interesting trivia.

Last month’s trivia questions and answers

Which country offers an on-line fraud quiz to test their citizen's awareness to fraud?

Canada: If your country offers such a quiz, please let me know.

What was the first recorded fraud?

The first recorded fraud scheme is from 300 B.C. in Greece.

Last month’s trivia questions and answers...

What is the full name of the person who first perpetrated the Ponzi scheme?

Despite the notoriety of Charles Ponzi, the scheme that carries his name, it was first perpetrated by Sarah Howe in Boston in 1879.

Last month’s trivia questions and answers

In the movie “The Accountant”, as the protagonist solves the financial statement fraud scheme, what real life financial statement fraud did the Accountant sketch out on the glass walls of the conference room?