17 Jul 2024
0

Protecting Your Business from Real Estate Fraud

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Protecting Your Business from Real Estate Fraud

Whether your company acquires businesses that own real estate or you invest in real estate directly, fraud poses an ever-present threat. Buying and selling real estate is complicated, and it’s relatively easy for crooks to manipulate the process. To help mitigate real estate fraud threats, thorough due diligence is essential. Staying current on common schemes and red flags also may enable you to identify risky transactions before you put down any money. 5 schemes First, be aware of these five common real estate fraud schemes: Fake documents. Every real estate transaction requires extensive documentation. To make an acquisition more enticing, sellers could fake rent rolls, financial statements or other documents that indicate an asset’s profitability. Additionally, sellers might doctor environmental impact reports to, for example, hide the...

15 Jul 2024
0

Is Your Inventory Missing – or Stolen? Ask an Expert

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Is Your Inventory Missing - or Stolen? Ask an Expert

For many businesses, such as retailers, manufacturers and contractors, strict inventory control is central to operations. If you don’t track inventory accurately, you can’t effectively produce goods, meet customer demand and realize profits. Let’s say you’re performing a year-end inventory count and you come up short. Have you miscounted or have the items been misplaced? Or has someone stolen inventory? A professional fraud expert can help you get to the bottom of such discrepancies. Assuming an innocent explanation Before assuming theft, experts investigate whether missing inventory items were really stolen. Employees might have kept sloppy records or failed to follow proper procedures, resulting in “missing” inventory. For example, a company without a location assignment for each item, an effective method of tracking overflow stock, and a well-run returns...

24 Jun 2024
0

Shoring Up Protections Against Expense Reimbursement Fraud

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Shoring Up Protections Against Expense Reimbursement Fraud

One of the types of occupational fraud schemes that became more costly for employers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is expense reimbursement fraud. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE’s) latest report, this type of employee scheme now ranks fourth after corruption, billing schemes and noncash fraud. Although the $50,000 median loss of expense reimbursement scams is less than that of some other frauds, it’s also very commonly perpetrated. According to software company Emburse, nearly 25% of 1,000 workers surveyed admitted to passing off personal purchases as work-related buys. If you let internal controls slip a bit during the pandemic and you’re seeing more exaggerated or falsified expense reports, it’s time to reinforce your fraud deterrents. How they do it Employees often...

05 Jun 2024
0

What to Do if your Business is Defrauded

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
What to do if your business is defrauded

Occupational fraud isn’t just a financial threat. It can potentially change a business’s reputation, culture and relationships. But before dealing with any larger ramifications of fraud, defrauded companies must first “clean up” the mess. This may include potentially terminating the perpetrator, taking civil action or referring the perpetrator to the police. Whatever a business chooses to do in the aftermath of a fraud incident, swift action is paramount and internal controls must be addressed. How do victims react? In its Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) reveals that when organizations uncover fraud, 67% choose to terminate the individuals involved. In 57% of cases, companies refer fraud perpetrators to law enforcement. Of those, 45% result in the perpetrator pleading...

16 May 2024
0

Why Would Your Businesses Want “Know Your Customer” Policies?

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Why Would Your Businesses Want "Know Your Customer" Policies?

Financial institutions, investment service companies, insurers and creditors generally are required to implement and follow know-your-customer (KYC) policies as part of a larger anti-money laundering (AML) effort. Although most other nonregulated businesses don’t have a KYC mandate, such procedures can help prevent fraud and significant financial losses from criminal activity, among other benefits. In addition, following KYC principles sends a message to customers, vendors and other stakeholders that you take trust and security seriously. Due diligence requirements As part of their KYC processes, regulated businesses have three duties to perform: customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and continuous monitoring. In practice, this means they verify customers’ names, addresses and dates of birth and check them against lists of known criminals. In addition, they monitor transaction trends and...

28 Apr 2024
0

How Fraud Perpetrators Conceal Their Illicit Activities

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
How Fraud Perpetrators Conceal Their Illicit Activities

When employees commit fraud, they generally try to keep the schemes going as long as possible by concealing their activities from others. How successful thieves are at concealment depends largely on their identities, their roles within their organizations and the type of fraud they commit. To uncover potential fraud in your organization and prevent financial losses, it helps to familiarize yourself with common perpetrator characteristics and the methods occupational thieves use to conceal their crimes. Identity and fraud Every two years, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) releases a comprehensive study on occupational fraud based on real-life incidents. The most recent report, Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations finds that while most fraud is committed by employees and managers, schemes involving company leaders are...

28 Apr 2024
0

Got Fraud Losses? How Experts Put a Number on Them

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Got Fraud Losses? How Experts Put a Number on Them

If your company suffers significant losses due to a fraud incident, you may decide to pursue the perpetrator in court, possibly to obtain compensatory damages. Assuming you win your case, you should know that estimating fraud damages is challenging. It generally requires the assistance of a financial expert, who will consider the facts of the case and the harm suffered by your business. Let’s take a look at calculation methods. Benefit-of-the-bargain vs. out-of-pocket Damages experts typically use either the benefit-of-the-bargain or out-of-pocket approach to make estimates. The appropriate method depends to some degree on the location and nature of the fraud. But in most cases, the benefit-of-the-bargain method results in greater restitution for victims. Take, for example, a real estate developer who buys a parcel of land that...

17 Apr 2024
0

Charity Scams: A Small Business Perspective

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Charity Scams: A Small Business Perspective

Many businesses support their communities by donating to local charities. Although there are plenty of non-profits that deserve your support, some exist solely to facilitate fraud. How can you avoid the latter? Familiarize yourself with the deceptive tactics scammers use and carefully screen charities for legitimacy — before you write a check. Branding tricks Fraud perpetrators employ many tried-and-tested approaches to trick businesses into donating to fake charities. One of the most effective ways that they secure donations is by creating entities that resemble established non-profits. They use familiar-sounding names and familiar-looking logos. They also make their websites and marketing materials appear like those of the charities they’re impersonating. These scammers often use their fake branding in emails and on social media platforms. Not only do they hope...

17 Apr 2024
0

Tips for Investigating Employee Fraud Tips

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Tips for Investigating Employee Fraud Tips

Occupational fraud is a crime generally committed by employees against their employers. Ironically, employees also are most likely to notice or suspect occupational fraud schemes conducted by their coworkers or managers. Whether they report through an anonymous tipline or directly to management or HR, rank-and-file workers often are the first to raise the alarm. If an employee alleges that someone has committed theft or fraud, or simply exhibits suspicious behavior, it’s your responsibility to take the charges seriously and investigate them. Here’s how. Preliminary digging If you receive a fraud tip, you’ll need to assess its validity by conducting preliminary interviews — even if you plan to eventually turn the investigation over to legal and fraud experts. To help avoid unnecessary legal complications, keep details of any allegation...

05 Mar 2024
0

Preventing Fraud Losses Across Multiple Business Locations

Roger Rossmeisl, CPA
Fraud Briefs
Preventing Fraud Losses Across Multiple Business Locations

If you operate your business in multiple locations (as with retail or restaurant chains), you face some extraordinary fraud-prevention challenges. After all, you can’t be everywhere at once. And the more locations you operate, the harder they are to monitor. Without the appropriate checks and balances in place, fraud losses in one store could threaten the health of your entire company. If you don’t already have one, consider implementing a robust antifraud program. A comprehensive strategy Whether you operate multiple locations as an independent owner or franchisee, fraud is an ever present risk. Depending on the products and services your business offers, employee, credit, returns and gift card fraud are all schemes your business potentially faces. Mitigating these risks requires a comprehensive strategy that doesn’t rely exclusively...

ROGER ROSSMEISL, CPA

Kho & Patel CPAs
160 E. Arrow Highway
San Dimas, CA 91773

(714) 325-0442
roger@khopatel.com

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