If you have been working in or with accounts payable for very long, you are savvy. You know that crooks look for ways to get some of your organization’s money. It’s not easy to scam you. But what about staff? Do they fully comprehend how fraud is a fact of business life? Anyone working in … Don’t Click That Link!
Failure to Follow Controls It happened again. This time, a county government in New Mexico electronically paid $447,372 in nine different disbursements to a criminal. The alleged fraudster may be a Kenyan, but he wasn’t posing as a prince trying to get a fortune out of the country. Instead, he was a resident of Rochester, … Are You Disciplined in Preventing Fraud?
Appearances and Vendor Payments One of the most iconic scenes in a Hollywood heist movie comes near the end of Ocean’s Eleven. The “team” minus Danny Ocean lean against the balustrade in front of the Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip, quietly gazing at the fountains as Debussy’s beautiful Claire de Lune plays. Then one … Falling for the Illusion of Cybercriminals Will Cost You
With the pandemic-driven shift to remote work, many organizations moved more check payments to electronic formats, primarily ACH. That has necessitated vendors providing organizations with bank account information. Criminals, of course, go where the money is. And in the hasty shift to more electronic payments and, therefore, more vendors sharing bank account information, many organizations … Two Controls to Protect Vendor Bank Account Information
Do you have controls on managing vendor information and the vendor master file? Do you follow them? Experienced managers will say, “Duh.” However, others can use a reminder, so here it is. “With commerce comes fraud,” says Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), in its 2020 Report to the … Why Vendor Controls and Confirmations Are Critical
Managing vendor information entails risk. The vendor master file is the key to vendor payments. Errors in the vendor master can lead to costly mistakes, and the master file is a prime target for fraud. There is also a risk of non-compliance with particular government tax, sanction and exclusion programs. Further, some of the vendor … What Are Your Risks in Vendor Information Management?
Criminals Steal $650,000 from Non-profit Organization. It was a heartbreaking discovery. A non-profit organization paid out an amount equating to 26 percent of its annual revenue over a month in what the organization thought was legitimate project payments. When the executive director later spoke to the group that was to hire architects and engineers for … Anatomy of Business Email Compromise Fraud
Hackers continue a relentless barrage Last December, the U.S. government announced a major cyber breach by Russian hackers. Before we had understood fully the impact of that attack on 18,000 organizations and government agencies, we learned “holes” in Microsoft’s email software led to another compromise of 30,000 U.S. organizations. That attack was by Hafnium, a … Cyber Risk Statistics and the Need to Secure Sensitive Information
Vendor Fraud Risk Scientists have detected mutations of the Coronavirus in the U.K., South Africa, Nigeria and Brazil. These mutations can change how rapidly the disease spreads. So far, it does not appear to increase its virulence. For the finance personnel, there’s a parallel in the arena of financial fraud. In the realm of business … Mutations: BEC becomes VEC
Someone is out to get you. Hackers are working full time. And with your team working from home now, you face greater risk. Cyber-criminals are constantly working to find soft spots or weak links in your organization to exploit. And hackers study human behavior and are good at manipulation. When everyone first started working from … Is Your Remote Team Sufficiently Cyber-Security Savvy?
Statistical Law Can Uncover Fraud Do you know what happened 140, 82, and 25 years ago? No, not other pandemics! Those are the numbers of years ago a mathematician and statisticians first discovered, then rediscovered and finally proved a statistical law that has fraud-busting application to accounts payable. The mathematician (and astronomer) was Simon Newcomb. … AP Risk: Fun with Numbers
