6 Ways That an Attorney Can Benefit From LII’s Services

1. We Locate People

The individual could be a witness, heir, a missing child, or a criminal. Maybe the individual is a former disgruntled employee who could whistle-blow about corporate misconduct or fraud. You might needing locate a subject in possession of the proverbial “smoking gun”—as in the case of stolen assets. Whether it’s an interview, serving papers, or investigate individuals, a Lauth PI can help you to identify and locate the subject.

 

2. We Locate Assets

Lauth Investigators are skilled at locating assets such as real estate, unclaimed property, and other valuable property like: artwork, antiques, collectibles, motor vehicles, aircraft, vessels, etc. A Lauth investigator can also help attorneys to identify the location both domestic and offshore bank accounts.

 

3. We Can Leverage for Negotiations

A Lauth Investigator can pull together key sources and intelligence to inform your side during litigation, in an M&A deal, during an internal investigation, or any other adversarial situation. It can make the difference between a favorable settlement and an unfavorable one.

 

4. We Can Help Attorneys Enforce Judgments

Obviously, a judgment is only useful if you are able to enforce it. A Lauth Investigator can help attorneys to identify current assets and uncover efforts to hide or misrepresent them through the transfer to family members, friends or other parties.

 

5. We Can Connect the Dots

Lauth Investigators can help you to know who is actually sitting on the other side of the table during litigation or a potential business deal. You can gain immeasurable negotiation power by identifying who is actually behind a faceless corporation or tying together undisclosed connections.

 

6. We Can Generate A Historical Reconstruction/Timeline

A historical reconstruction may be helpful in a number of different areas. Perhaps you need to review the history of a family to locate heirs. It could be a corporate history or a chain of title issue in a real estate matter. Whatever the issue, a Lauth Investigator can help to identify and piece together long lost documents, facts and witnesses.

 

Aaron Snyder — Research Investigator and Blog Writer — Lauth Investigations International

Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees

Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a typical organization loses an average of 5 percent of revenues each year due to workplace fraud.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a typical organization loses an average of 5 percent in revenue each year due to workplace fraud.

There are a few generally accepted types of employees when it comes to workplace fraud and embezzlement. Social science has done a great deal of research on who commits workplace fraud and why they decide to offend. The three most common types of employee, when it comes to likelihood of committing fraud, are: honest employees, generally honest employees, and professionally dishonest employees.

 

Professionally Dishonest Employees

Often referred to as “professional fraudsters”, these individuals are more uncommon than the other types, but are important to understand and make note of. They certainly do exist, and there may be more of them than you might think. These fraudsters seek companies with weak controls and the inability to detect workplace fraud. These employees move from company to company in order to defraud them. These individuals generally had no intention of working for said company; their only intention from their initial interview is to defraud an organization for personal gain. This type of planned, calculated, and premeditated workplace fraud is one of the most serious types of fraud, and often times they involve large dollar amounts.

Companies can combat these fraudsters by creating stronger controls and implementing a plan to discover workplace fraud. The mere existence of such of a plan to deter workplace fraud can be enough to denture these fraudsters from ever infiltrating the company to begin with—they are looking for any easy payday. Organizations with weak controls and highly autonomous workers should be particularly aware of this type of employee, and take steps in order to make sure they are never hired in the first place.

 

Generally Honest Employees

The second category of employees is generally honest ones. These employees took the job and, originally, never planned on stealing or defrauding the company. There are two main risk factors that are used to determine how likely a particular employee is to engage in fraud.

The first risk factor is opportunity. If a generally honest employee is given a large opportunity, or many smaller opportunities, to steal from the company they are more likely to commit workplace fraud than an employee with limited opportunity. Limiting the opportunity for workplace fraud to occur may be the single best preventative measure that can be taken to avoid the issue altogether.

The other determining factor is the employee’s perceived need for the money. Employees who are dependent on gambling, alcohol, or drugs are certainly at a higher risk to offend, but sometimes, all it takes for fraud to occur is any level of perceived need and a high level of opportunity.

 

Honest Employees

They certainly exist, but far too often, employers estimate that they have more honest employees than they actually do. Often times, victims of workplace fraud become victims by believing that their employees are all honest. Other times, employers are concerned about low-level workers while the most likely individual to commit fraud is a long-term, trusted, knowledgeable, and important employee.

Employees that have been around for awhile have a working knowledge of the company, and in turn, understand the best ways that they could defraud the company without suspicion. Companies can help insulate themselves from fraud by understanding that their most likely offenders are also the employees they might least suspect.

 

Regardless of the character of the workers that a given company employs, it is impossible to completely avoid the possibility that workplace fraud could occur in the organization. Understanding these simple categories can help avoid hiring the wrong people, but because workplace fraud can happen anywhere, it is also important to know how hiring a Private Investigator can help you discover fraud, recover losses, and prosecute offending employees.

 

Aaron Snyder, Writer, Lauth Investigations Blog

 

Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees

5 Options for Who to Call When You Suspect Workplace Fraud

Suspect work place fraud? Do you know who to call?

Suspect work place fraud? Call Lauth Investigations today.

 

So you’ve realized that you are the victim of workplace fraud. What now? For many business owners, it can be frustrating trying to figure out what to do after uncovering fraud in the workplace. Here are five options of who to contact when you suspect that you’ve been duped.

 

1. Many begin by calling an attorney

You certainly might need one at some point during this stressful process, but not all attorneys are capable of assisting in the same way. Different attorneys have different specialties, and their advice on the proper way to proceed will likely vary widely. Calling your attorney could be helpful, and again, may be necessary. Still, it might not be the best first-option due to the high professional fees that attorneys tend to charge.

2. Luckily there is crime insurance, right?

It’s certainly true—crime insurance can help recover funds lost in workplace fraud cases. However, just like most other types of insurance policies, there are countless factors that play into the decision to approve or deny a particular claim. Far too often, a small error or failure by the policy-holder results in the claim being denied. Not to mention, when approved, crime insurance policies usually only cover a tiny fraction of the overall loss. Crime insurance is great, but it is no substitute for a proper investigation.

3. Contacting the police is also always an option.

The police can certainly investigate; however criminal justice is a slow process, and often times workplace fraud cases can be tough to prosecute—especially if the district attorney feels there is an apparent civil agreement that has already been made. But what if the employee agrees to pay the money back, and defaults on their agreement? For several reasons, the police are only limitedly helpful in workplace fraud cases.

4. Often times a small business owner will contact their CPA.

Again CPAs and other trusted advisors could be needed at some point, but the advice you receive may vary a great deal. Sometimes the actions taken can actually complicate the issue—costing even more in professional fees. Take the wrong step, and you may hurt your chances of criminally prosecuting the employee and having a successful recovery of losses. Although involving a CPA could be necessary, it also may not be the best first step.

5. The correct first step very well may be to contact a private investigator.

Many private investigators have experience dealing with workplace fraud cases; they also have experience working with attorneys, crime insurance companies, police, CPAs, and other professional advisors. Working with a private investigator on a workplace fraud case can yield important results while keeping costs low.

 

A private investigator can examine the case and determine which, if any, of these avenues would be the most fruitful. Getting a private investigator involved in the case, before hiring other professionals, can help simplify the issue while keeping costs for professional services, like attorney fees and CPA costs, to a minimum.

Explore the blog for more about when to call a professional for a corporate investigation and a few ground rules for a successful workplace investigation.

 

Aaron Snyder, Writer, Lauth Investigations Blog

 

Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees

When to Call a Professional for a Corporate Investigation

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMost experienced professionals in upper-management and/or HR positions are required to conduct corporate investigations at some point during their careers. It’s just par for the course. Unfortunately, there are certain circumstances in which an internal investigation conducted by company employees may not be the best option. In these cases, hiring a professional is a better choice. Not sure when’s the right time to call in reinforcements? Here are a few guidelines.

First, assess the situation to determine whether it warrants a full-blown corporate investigation. A single instance of employee theft from the petty cash box is probably not impactful enough to allocate money and resources toward a thorough investigation. Theft on a much larger scale, however, such as that carried out through suspected embezzlement, is a different story.

Once you’ve determined whether an investigation is, indeed, necessary, the next step is figuring out whether your personnel is equipped to handle the process internally. Again, this will likely depend on the size and scope of the alleged misconduct. It will also depend on the experience of those tasked with conducting the inquest. If you’re a sizeable organization with a designated investigation team, chances are you’ll be fine on your own. If your company is smaller or if nobody on staff has direct experience with conducting a corporate investigation, it may make sense to bring in a professional.

Another deciding factor is the important topic of confidentiality. It can be extremely difficult to conduct a thorough investigation using internal employees without arousing suspicion. It can also be challenging to keep an open mind and proceed without any type of bias, which is critical to the success of any corporate investigation. This is why most organizations choose to enlist the help of an experienced third-party investigator who can go undercover, if necessary.

Finally, if you’re considering whether to hire a pro for your corporate investigation, remember that completing such a monumental task successfully also involves a lot of time. It could take weeks, months or even years to gather the evidence needed to build a case, and activities may include surveillance, background investigations, data mining and interviews and substantial documentation. Can you really afford to have one of your own employees dedicate this much effort to the cause?

Simply put, in most cases, conducting a corporate investigation is best left to those who do so for a living. The outcome will likely be better, and your company will save time, money and aggravation in the process. If you’re considering working with a pro, give the team at Lauth Investigations International, Inc. a call. We’ve got the experience necessary to help you get the results you need.

Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees

What is Workers’ Comp Fraud and How Can a Private Investigator Help?

fraud 2Workers’ compensation is an insurance program that is designed to assist employees who become injured on the job or suffer a job-related illness. Unfortunately, not every claim that is filed is legitimate and the business is often the one that pays the price. In fact, more than 1 in 10 employers are concerned that a worker will fake an illness or injury in order to fraudulently collect workers’ comp benefits. Let’s take a closer look at the different types of workers’ comp fraud and what you can do to protect your company from becoming a victim.

Types of Workers’ Comp Fraud

False Claim – This occurs when an employee is never injured at all, but claims he or she was on the job in order to collect insurance payments. In some cases, a worker may actually go to the extent of injuring him or herself (usually by staging an accident) to bolster their claim.

Working While Collecting – Another costly form of workers’ comp fraud occurs when someone who may or may not be legitimately injured and is subsequently collecting benefits stating he or she is unable to work, but is actually working elsewhere at another job.

Exaggerated Claim – These are cases in which an employee legitimately sustained an injury, but is exaggerating its severity in order to extend the amount of time off and benefits he or she can collect.

Employer Fraud – In some cases, the business itself may be engaging in behavior that is classified as workers’ comp fraud. This is typically done through employee misclassification. In other words, a company will erroneously list a full time worker as a contractor to avoid having to pay higher premiums.

Not sure which, if any, of these types of workers’ comp fraud are occurring? Here are 10 warning signs to watch for.

How a Private Investigator Can Help

If a business suspects that one or more employees are engaging in workers’ comp fraud activities, it can be wise to enlist the help of an experienced private investigator. This professional can then do the following in order to identify areas of legitimate fraud and also build a case against the offender:

Gather evidence. This may include conducting surveillance of the employee in question and capturing evidence of dishonesty. For example, the investigator may take video or pictures of the offender working at another company on the side or engaging in physical activity that is not consistent with the supposed injury or illness.

Conduct background investigation. In many cases, a person who commits workers’ comp fraud has a long history of similar claims. A thorough background investigation can reveal patterns that may raise suspicion and concern and can also help build a stronger case against the offender.

Documentation. Once all of the necessary evidence is collected and a detailed background check has been performed, the final step in the workers’ comp fraud investigation will be compiling all the documentation needed to pursue the case.

Could workers’ comp fraud be costing your business money? Don’t take chances. Trust the experienced team at Lauth Investigations International, Inc. to handle your case swiftly and efficiently. We can help you get the evidence you need to mitigate your damages and avoid becoming a victim again in the future. Call us today to learn more.