![Workplace Fraud: The Three Types of Employees]()
by admin_lauth | Feb 15, 2016 | Corporate Investigations
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]()
by admin_lauth | Feb 10, 2016 | Corporate Investigations
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
by admin_lauth | Sep 16, 2014 | Private Investigations News
Ray Rice, Rodger Goodell (Source: NBC bay area)
The National Football League (NFL), has long sustained a period of growth and dominance. In the past 20 years, we’ve seen American football replace baseball as America’s national pastime. Even with flare-ups and controversies like questionable team names, spy-gates, lock-outs, and concussions, the “teflon league” continues to draw in record numbers. The NFL’s weekly game format, media-friendly structure, and fantasy playability has proven to be a perfect fit in today’s digital world. Alas, this most recent scandal may put a chink in the once pristine, family-friendly armor, and its ripple effects could be felt by the football organization for a long time.
The Ray Rice scandal, which included video footage of the Baltimore Ravens star in the aftermath of Ray beating his fiance (now wife) unconscious. This action was initially given a two game ban by the league, as approved by NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell. However, in today’s visual society the NFL found itself on the other-side of scrutiny when a second, more graphic video went viral. As of this posting, the league and commissioner have been put under the microscope from the same outlets and social media platforms that have previously been a boon for the professional sports organization.
Some are calling for Goodell’s resignation, others want reform for the league, or at least question the unyielding power the heads of the NFL seem to have. The PR train is in full swing down at NFL HQ, with Goodell having recently hired an independent private investigator to ease tensions and exonerate himself. Former FBI director Robert Muller has been involved in investigations from 9/11 to the Boston marathon bombings, thus is well aware of stakes and sensitivity, while his track record provides credibility for public.
NFL- aka No Free Life-lines, even if your one of the most powerful sports organizations on the planet. (Source: NFL.com)
However savvy it may be to save face by hiring a private investigator now, by waiting till this unfortunate event became a media frenzy, they have only hurt their brand, image, and reputation. This will certainly cost them millions, and would have proven a much wiser move to seek out an investigator back in February, when the incident first occurred.
Imagine what a little due diligence could have done for the organization. By hiring a PI in the Spring, they would have saved themselves the scandal this second video caused.
Though private investigators wouldn’t have access to the second video, from finding information on public record, and working with the NFL, much could be derived. For instance, points of discussion with this case has rarely focused on the police dept. or hotel involved. Both could be complicit in the mishandling of evidence and charges against the accused. A private investigator could seek out the corruption both externally and internally, which could lead to a more proficient, less scandal plagued organization.
The NFL is unlike anythings else. A powerful, (technically) non-profit that has a monopoly on the market, and a demand for it’s product that’s showing no signs of slowing down. Without a checks and balances system, the NFL has become a government onto itself, so using a private investigator in times of crisis would help the NFL become a more stable, consistent presence for all athletes and sports fans alike.
by admin_lauth | Sep 5, 2014 | Tips & Facts
Today’s digital age has allowed people to be more interconnected, share more information, and stretched our capabilities for innovation in ways dystopian literature couldn’t even have imagined. You think Aldous Huxley could have predicted the advent of Yelping the best tasting empanadas within a ten mile radius? (Okay fine he probably did). Well, as increasingly dependent we’ve been when it comes to our relationship with various technologies, devices, clouds, and screens, a couple cyber hacker stories this week have caused many to second guess the information that’s exchanged over the once thought even playing field of internet and data storage.
This past Sunday, Hollywood and celebrity culture was rocked with a photo scandal that is now considered the biggest celebrity hacking incident of all-time. Over 100 actresses, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kirsten Dunst have been reported having personal photos and information made public on sites such as 4Chan, known to some as the “the darkest corner of the web“. One such actress, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was quoted as saying the private pictures she took with her husband were “deleted from her account years ago”. She also brought up the question of whether anything can truly be scrubbed from the cloud or internet.
Even if your the biggest star on the planet, it doesn’t mean you are any less venerable when it comes to cyber crimes. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)
For those of us who aren’t featured on the covers of glossy magazines or have people dressing like them for Halloween, it doesn’t seem to impact us. We may just chalk this up to celebrity culture and the continued lack of privacy this digital age and news cycle has allowed them to have. However, another recent cyber crime can be much more concerning for “normal” folks.
Home Depot may be the latest large-cap company to “pull a Target” or become victim of credit card breach. In the last week, thousands of credit cards have cropped up on “carding sites”. This is thought to be the work of eastern European hackers, the same group that infiltrated Target’s security system last year.
Cyber hackers may have had credit card access for months. Source: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Both stories directly impact different target markets, but offer a glimpse into how easy it is in this age to bring down any person or corporation with just a few clicks.
These hackers could be called anti-investigators for their deductive approach in getting the information they desire, though for obvious nefarious and highly illegal purposes.
(Source: Experience Project)
Getting access to such information is much more simplistic then one may presume. In the case of card breaches, it usually consists of a basic malware programs that store and forward information, according to private investigation experts.
In terms of how such programs were attached to the systems in the first place, the celebrity scandal can provide one such example of how this occurs. Investigators believe hackers access to information was based on methodically deducing the actresses passcode information, and not a complete infiltration of ICloud.
Private investigators offer solutions in both scenarios, including two-step passwords, making unique, “back-up” answers, and using chip cards without the magnetic strip.
Fraud investigators are attempting to catch individuals by gathering facts and working backwards. Though not easy to find these virtual criminals, whether your a corporation, an A-list celebrity or someone with a stolen identity, private investigators will use continuously evolving and innovative methods in catching these criminals.
by admin_lauth | Aug 7, 2014 | Private Investigations News
Photo by Nicolas Halftermeyer (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Today’s private investigators seem to have it pretty easy compared to those of the past — cell phones, security cameras, and social media accounts are often used to obtain evidence for investigations. Gone are the days when private eyes had to flip through physical documents and phone directories, or find the location of someone with an actual map. And now, thanks to the advancements in drone technology, some investigators are opting to do away with physical surveillance.
A drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), is a remote controlled aircraft. Although they have been around for several years, flying personal UAVs is a relatively new hobby. These small crafts have been all over the media lately, even earning the endorsement of Martha Stewart. Like Stewart, many people use drones to take beautiful aerial photos. The market for drones is constantly expanding, and tech companies are keeping pace. Some drones can record a live feed, detect heat, or are small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand. Others can fly four several hours at a time, scanning entire cities in a day.
Due to their discreet nature, private eyes have begun using drones to catch cheating spouses or dishonest employees. Instead of observing someone on foot for hours, investigators can use a drone to get a bird’s eye view of a suspect and collect video evidence. Using a drone is also safer for an investigator and are cheaper than chartering a plane or helicopter. A recent New York Post article featured a private investigator whose specialty is drones. According to the article, the investigator had to use a drone to record evidence of insurance fraud instead of physically surveying the suspect’s property for fear of being shot.
Because of their invasive capabilities, many are questioning the ethics of drone usage, including U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. Schumer recently called for federal regulations on drones, even going as far as proposing a ban on drone usage by private investigators. The idea of anyone being able to purchase a surveillance drone and using it to record whomever and wherever they want is fairly unnerving. The use of personal drones is uncharted territory, filled with flimsy guidelines and little regulation. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits the flying of UAVs for commercial use or payment. Drones are also not permitted to fly over heavily urban areas, and must alert control towers if they fly too close to an airport (FAA Website). Even so, investigators like the one featured in the Post article are still flying their drones.
Should we start expecting to see drones tailing us as we walk down the street? Probably not.
For now, most investigators are opting to stay on the ground and stick to their tried-and-true surveillance techniques. If evidence is gathered illegally, it may lose its value in court, and a private investigator could lose their credibility.
