by admin_lauth | Dec 22, 2017 | Personal Investigations
DANGERS OF ONLINE DATING FOR ALL GENERATIONS
PART TWO – THE DIVORCЀ
As discussed in my previous posting, The Widower, Lauth Investigations International, Inc. has handled several cases of scam and fraud in relation to online dating sites. The elaborate lengths these scammers go to get what they want is overwhelming. Lauth Investigations has uncovered several different scams as they have related to our clients. The scariest part of these scams is the commitment and dedication these criminals put into their deception.
The following Lauth Investigations fraud case focuses on a fifty-five year old, successful divorced gentlemen. It is widely believed women are the main targets and victims of online scams; however, Lauth Investigations has found men are just as affected falling victim to these criminals.
The Fifty-Five Year Old Divorcé
A year after Bill and his wife of 30 years divorced, Bill was looking to get out into the dating world again. He is an accountant for a large firm so he works most of the time, he hasn’t been on a date in over 30 years, and he doesn’t know where to go to meet anyone. A friend suggests online dating. One night, Bill decides to set up his profile on a dating site just to see what happens. Bill’s nightmare begins.
Within a few weeks of being on the dating site, Bill connects with a beautiful younger woman from Russia, we’ll call her Ava. Ironically, even though they are from completely different cultures, Bill and Ava have a lot in common. Although Ava struggles with English, she communicates enough via phone, texting and emails to make a strong enough connection with Bill. He ends up falling in love with her without meeting her.
Once Ava knows Bill is hooked, she starts pulling at his heart strings. She tells him how hard it is to live in Russia because jobs do not pay more than a few hundred dollars a month. On top of her low salary, she must take care of her ill mother because her father was killed in a car accident. Now, Bill feels the pull to play the hero. All a part of the ploy. He wants to swoop in and help Ava to show her how much he loves her.
Ava never had to ask for any money. She plays the role perfectly and Bill starts offering money. When Ava pretends to be embarrassed about taking Bill’s money, he insists she let him help her out. Ava “reluctantly” provides Bill her information so he may Western Union her money. The money starts flowing in the direction of Russia.
After months of Bill sending money to “help” Ava, she claims her mother died. Being the good boyfriend, Bill sends money for the funeral. He offers to bring Ava to the States to live with him and get married. Ava is excited to start a new life with him; however, a new snag occurs when she tries to her obtain her visa. The only way it will be resolved is money, which Bill sends, excited to finally meet Ava in person. He is ready to start their new life. The final payment is sent for Ava to purchase her plane ticket. Once sent, Bill never hears from Ava again.
Lauth Investigations International, Inc. is hired when Bill worries Ava was harmed trying to leave the country. He has not yet realized he is a victim of a scam. After much investigation, Lauth proved to Bill that Ava was not the woman’s real identity. The information she provided him led to no one. Research into finding the individual(s) who picked up the Western Union payments revealed nothing. These scammers utilize this payment method because the payments cannot trace who picked them up and they can be picked up anywhere in the world.
After Bill gave away $75,000 and his heart, he now is picking up the pieces and moving on to better things. He was a victim of an elite fraud. He lost a lot of money and his dignity. Bill is not the only one in this position. This fraud is consistently pulling men and women in making the scammers extremely wealthy. Do not let yourself or a loved one be fooled into this fraud. Always err on the side of caution and spend a little money up front to have a potential partner researched by a private investigator. Being too careful never hurt anyone!
by admin_lauth | Dec 9, 2017 | Private Investigations News
The Family Medical Legal Act of 1993 serves to protect an employee’s job in the case of family or personal illness or emergency. Specifically, it ensures long term, full time employees “12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to attend to the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child.” Unfortunately, it is often used for anything but.
FMLA fraud is common. Employees have been known to take FMLA allotted days to go fishing, finish a long vacation after running out of vacation days, and even serve jail time. However, successfully winning a case of FMLA fraud in district court is not as easy as you may think. Proving that an employee’s “out of work” activity conflicts with their FMLA testimony is hard, and often requires a lot of documented research.
Take the example of an employee who was seen drinking and dancing during her sick leave for a bad back, but who won her case against her employer. Or the woman who successfully used her sick leave to take her mother to DisneyWorld. Cases that seem to be open and shut end up being far from it, and it is often due to a lack of information on the extent of the perceived illness, injury, or handicap, or a lack of information on the perceived act of fraud.
If you think you are a victim of FMLA fraud, and that you have an employee who is abusing the system, here are three things you should do before you terminate them to avoid frustrating legal proceedings and possibly losing a winning case.
- Hire a Private Investigator- OK, you knew we were going to say that. But in all sincerity, trying to win an FMLA fraud case without the use of a private investigator is essentially shooting yourself in the foot. In the case of FMLA fraud, a well researched case is the difference between winning and losing, because you will need to have details on what your employee is doing that you cannot get on your own. Private investigators can help you contextualize your employees medical situation, look into any plans they had for vacations or trips, help you identify any incriminating evidence, and most importantly, keep you in line with the law throughout the process. If you think that an employee is lying about their FMLA needs, they probably are. Your issue lies in proving that to a judge.
- Build a strong argument- As stated above, being out dancing might not necessarily mean that you don’t have a back problem preventing you from work- at least, not to a court judge. If the employer in that specific case did the work of consulting a medical professional and building a stronger argument around their assertion that “dancing means you can work”, they would have probably won their case. They lost because they fired their employee based on assumptions instead of facts. If you are going to fight someone on FMLA leave, make absolutely sure that you are building an argument that will stand up in court. Talk to professionals, research your assumptions (no matter how obvious and self-evident they might seem to you), and don’t terminate the employee until you are absolutely sure that you could back up your decision in front of a judge.
- Weigh the pros and cons- Unfortunately, the potential benefit of terminating an employee who abused FMLA might not outweigh the costs of court proceedings, research, and the risk of losing. Of course, you do not want to continue to employ someone who blatantly lies and abuses your company and your trust. But in the case of gray areas, it might be best for your company to let it slide and assume the best. As long as the abuse is not recurring and does not become a habit, giving your employee the benefit of the doubt in minor cases of potential fraud might be best for company morale, and for your checkbook. It simply isn’t always worth the fight, despite the injustice of it.
Winning your case comes down to one thing: being prepared. Take preparation seriously, know the facts, and you have a good chance at getting justice for your company.
by admin_lauth | Dec 8, 2017 | Personal Investigations
From the Desk of Kristen Justis, Director of Marketing and Client Relations
DANGERS OF ONLINE DATING FOR ALL GENERATIONS
PART ONE – THE WIDOW
A sixty-year old widow, a fifty-five year old divorcee, a professional woman in her mid-thirties or a twenty-three year old Army soldier, these are just some of the individuals Lauth Investigation International, Inc., a private investigation firm, have helped while being scammed through online dating. Scammers do not discriminate, they throw out a line and see who bites. Hence the name Catfish Scams. Over the next few articles, I will discuss each of these Catfish scams.
The Sixty Year Old Widow
A wonderful forty-year marriage, three children, a mortgage paid off and ready for retirement, then the life altering death of Jane’s husband occurs. Jane deals with the loneliness and grief of losing her life partner. A year later, she decides to join an online dating site to find a companion to spend time and share her life. She is matched with several gentlemen; however, one pursues her in the charming, exciting way she was hoping for.
Jane and the new guy, Joe, begin talking via e-mail. He tells her all about his life and the exciting traveling he has done. They have so much in common, she can’t believe how much she enjoys communicating with him. The communication then moves to phone calls and text messaging. They laugh, he compliments her, they have late night talks. The excitement of this new relationship begins to mount.
Two weeks into the relationship, Joe tells Jane he received a contract for work and he will be leaving in a couple of days to Malaysia. He is unsure how long he will be there. Jane requests to meet him in person prior to him leaving. Joe states he has too much to do before he leaves so he is unable to meet her. This makes sense to Jane, so she doesn’t push the issue.
After months of talking every day, Joe tells Jane he owes money to a hospital for some medical expenses and he cannot get to his money because he must be present at his bank to withdrawal money. Of course, his bank is in the United States. He even showed her a screenshot of his bank account with $2.8 Million. The hospital is holding his passport so he is unable to come home to her. He suggests she sends him the money to cover the debt so he can come home. Jane sends him the money.
Next, Joe asks for more money because now he owes money to his attorney in Malaysia. The attorney is now holding his passport until the debt is paid. Jane has to refinance her paid off house to pull money out, but she does it so Joe can come home to her.
Once the attorney is paid off, Joe needs further money as he now owes money to his landlord, who again is holding his passport as collateral. Jane, once again, sends him the money. Now, Joe claims he cannot come home because his visa has since expired and he has to pay fines before he is allowed to leave Malaysia.
A year and $100,000 sent, Jane begins to question Joe about his history. He explains there is lot he can’t share over the phone or text messaging and he will tell her everything when he returns to the States. She questions his accent because he is supposed to be American. He explains this away stating his father was in the military and he lived overseas in different countries throughout his childhood; therefore, he has a mix of accents. Jane asked him on numerous occasions to send her pictures of him. He claims he does not have a phone that takes pictures.
Once Jane looked past her emotions, she hired Lauth Investigations International, Inc. to investigate Joe. Private Investigators found no one exists under the name, birth date and addresses Joe provided to Jane. The bank account he provided was on a fake site. After much investigations, Lauth Investigations was able to link Joe to a scam stemming from Nigeria.
The catfishing scam out of Nigeria is a well-organized group of criminals, men and women, who troll online dating sites in the United States. They are trained to know the region around their victim to convince them they are from the area. The have training on how to connect with the victim and make them fall in love. Once they know the victim is hooked, they pull the line to get them to send money. The requests begin as a small amount and continues to grow over time with more requests for money.
The Nigerian criminal organization operates out of several different internet cafes, use a multitude of computers and phones, maintain various false identities and fake photos, and have fake websites. They utilize all the fraudulent documentation to scam individuals out of millions of dollars a year. Therefore, once the scam is discovered, the money is gone and unrecoverable.
Watch out for your loved ones and yourself for any suspicious relationships formed through an online dating service. Unless you meet the person face to face, do not fall prey to the eloquent words they are able to write or say over the phone. Never send money to someone you do not know personally. If you have any questions about someone you have met, spend your money hiring a private investigator. It’s better to be safe than sorry and broke.
by admin_lauth | Jul 29, 2017 | Private Investigations News
The Private Investigation Business often deals with cases related to improper handling of company money, whether it be from a partner, a spouse, or an employee. Most of the time, these issues could have been caught sooner if the person in charge had incorporated a few easy checks into his or her financial routine. This blog post spells out three easy money managing tips that will help any manager or owner keep a better handle on company finances and catch any suspicious activity.
Change up the roles- This is one of the most important things you can do when trying to protect your money. Cases of theft, fraud, and deceit occur when people get too comfortable in their position. Switching up the roles of who 1) records transactions 2) physically handles the money 3) balances the books 4) approves expenditures is a great way to keep everyone on their toes and naturally provide employee checks. In the case of employee theft, In over ¼ of all employee theft cases, it is a tip off from a fellow employee that eventually catches the perpetrator. This is all the more reason to have your employees checking each other’s work, and it will simultaneously prevent anyone from “counting on” having a certain responsibility or getting too comfortable in a certain role. That being said, make sure that switching the roles does not get messy. Keep track of who is in charge of what at every moment, and never let there be a question as to who was the last one to touch the money, balance the books, etc.
Save receipts- Saving receipts is another necessary habit for absolutely every business. Receipts can feel outdated nowadays and it can be hard and tedious to try and physically hold on to paper receipts or take the time to download and print online ones. However, when it comes time to provide monthly expense reports, there should be no reason why every single employee/client expense should not be properly documented. Abuse of a company credit card is one of the main ways that employees play the system, and saving receipts helps prevent this. Not only that, but it will help the accountant keep a clear record of purchases and will help the company in the case of a tax audit. Saving receipts is always a good idea, and again, the fact that an employee knows he or she needs to record and save the receipt of every purchase will make them far more careful about spending company money.
Outsource- An easy way to avoid untrustworthy employees is by outsourcing some of your needs. For example, by outsourcing your accountant, you are able to get an objective person balancing your books every month who your other employees don’t even know and will have limited contact with. This outsourced accountant won’t be spending company money and will have zero interest in fudging numbers. Similarly, outsourcing security can be a great way to keep a level of professionalism in the workplace by keeping the security separate and objective from the rest of the office. Lastly, outsourcing an investigator is a way to get an objective voice and expert opinion in the event that you do suspect something is going wrong with your company’s money. Essentially, outsourcing allows you to save money, keep some distance between important roles and the rest of the company, and offer an objective opinion and expertise when it comes to money issues.
Be your company’s final calculator- At the end of the day, you are not going to be able to truly be at peace of mind with your company’s financial situation unless you are the end of the line for all financial concerns. Delegating and trusting your employees is necessary in order to be successful, but you should strategically plan check-ins every week and quarter to stay on top of your company’s finances, double check work, and feel out your employees and their attitudes. Being involved is the best way to keep your employees loyalty and maintain your own peace of mind. Remember, nobody, not even your business partner or long time friend, should be completely trusted with any one task exclusively. If people know that you’ll be asking questions, they will be far less likely to do something questionable.
Change passwords frequently- Perhaps the most simple advice on this list, and yet it is possibly the most important. We are living in a time where we are constantly vulnerable for theft, whether it be from those we know in our office, or identity thieves online. Changing your passwords often, making them difficult to crack, and not keeping them all recorded in one place is an important way to protect yourself from those looking for access. This is not just true with personal passwords but with any company wide access codes, lockboxes, or computers.
You can never 100% protect yourself from the unexpected. However being prepared and not putting anyone at your company in the position to be tempted to act unfairly is one of the best ways to protect against unwanted trouble.
by admin_lauth | Jun 21, 2017 | blog
Neighborhood car dealerships are often a victim of theft in many formats. For Lauth Investigations investigators there appears to be an uptick in handling these cases. Employee theft is common in general, with
50 billion dollars lost annually to employee theft in the U.S., but it is especially common with auto dealers due to the access employees have to vehicles and the high value of the product.
Employee theft is something dealers need to be constantly vigilant about. With merchandise going on and off site on a regular basis and with keys switching hands frequently, actual physical theft of a vehicle is common. If it’s not an issue of physically stealing the car, it’s a question of an employee tampering with invoices and checks. Whatever the strategy, car dealerships are losing big time to employee theft, which is a compounding problem since outside theft is already such a big issue for dealerships in the first place.
This week’s blog offers tips for dealers looking to prevent inside theft from their dealerships, with tips on how to handle it if you suspect something.
You need to have a good security system- This is a non-negotiable. Video surveillance at your dealership should be one of your top investments. There are a lot of good options out there including high quality video that focuses on internal processes and is meant to be used in the case of an investigation. Basically, you want a security system that is going to not just scare your employees into behaving, but that is also advanced and clear enough video to act as official evidence if you need it. Security goes beyond video as well. Whether you decide to invest in physical guards, or rely on keeping your facilities locked and changing codes frequently, make sure your security is as personalized as it gets. If you have guards, make sure they know all of your employees by name. If you have smart technology locks, make sure they have voice recognition or thumbprint recognition so that your employees are always identified. Of course money is an issue when investing in security and these options are not always possible, so we suggest at the very least making security a part of the company culture and conversation so that your employees know that they are being watched.
Nobody should have too much control- One of the most common ways that employee theft occurs is that somebody you trust is given too much freedom and control. We see this over and over again, and it feels like the same situation every time. Just because someone has been working for you for years does not mean that they are incapable of betraying your trust, on the contrary, these are the most common cases of employee theft because the employee feels comfortable enough in the environment to begin stealing. Everyone should have some form of check and everyone who handles money should have their books randomly reviewed at different points in the year. Many cases of insider theft are discovered once an employee goes on vacation and a new employee discovers a discrepancy that leads to an investigation.
Take discrepancies seriously- When anything in your bookkeeping doesn’t match up, it needs to be investigated immediately. If you have the least bit of suspicion that something might be going on, invest the time and energy into getting to the bottom of it. We see too many cases where proof of theft appeared early on but it was written off as mistakes in bookkeeping. Hiring a private investigator to research such discrepancies will set you back a couple of thousand. Being victim to employee fraud for a few months can cost you tens or hundreds of thousands. Don’t feel paranoid or ridiculous by choosing to play it safe.
Change patterns frequently- The key to avoiding theft, whether it’s inside or outside, is never letting anyone get to comfortable with the way things work. Make sure that the procedure for locking up, exchanging keys, and moving cars stays air tight, but also changes every few months. This will keep both employees, and outside observers, unable to take months strategizing how to steal from you.
Conduct thorough background checks- This seems like a no-brainer, but a surprising amount of dealerships do not conduct thorough background checks of potential employees. Just because someone makes a good impression or is a friend of a friend does not mean you don’t need to check into their past before you hire them. Many cases of employee fraud could be prevented by simply being thorough ahead of time.
Now if you are reading this and thinking, “All of this checking and suspicion is horrible for office morale,” you’re not alone. Many business managers need to learn to weigh protecting themselves from theft with creating an environment of culture and trust at the workplace. If you think that it is bad for company morale to have your employee’s feel like they are always being checked on, then frame the checks as a way to protect against accounting mistakes, instead of making references to theft. Also, be as transparent as possible with all other aspects of employee life such as salary, promotions, and rewarding hard work.
No employee can fault you for wanting to protect against theft as long as they are being treated with respect. Implementing these habits into your management will lead to a healthier and more efficient environment for both yourself and your employees.
Lauth Investigations International, Inc. is hired when Bill worries Ava was harmed trying to leave the country. He has not yet realized he is a victim of a scam. After much investigation, Lauth proved to Bill that Ava was not the woman’s real identity. The information she provided him led to no one. Research into finding the individual(s) who picked up the Western Union payments revealed nothing. These scammers utilize this payment method because the payments cannot trace who picked them up and they can be picked up anywhere in the world.
Once Jane looked past her emotions, she hired Lauth Investigations International, Inc. to investigate Joe. Private Investigators found no one exists under the name, birth date and addresses Joe provided to Jane. The bank account he provided was on a fake site. After much investigations, Lauth Investigations was able to link Joe to a scam stemming from Nigeria.
