Around the World

Arizona Daily Star

The cost of the Bernie Madoff scandal was much more than the $65 billion he ripped off from his closest friends and family members.

Read the full article here.

Diana Henriques, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, will address this topic and more at the ACFE Annual Fraud Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., June 17-22.

The Vancouver Sun

Italian police said on Friday they had seized about $6 trillion of fake U.S. Treasury bonds in Switzerland, and issued arrest warrants for eight people accused of international fraud and other financial crimes.

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Mandy Moody
ACFE Social Media Specialist

Vindication. The one word to aptly sum up the tumultuous rollercoaster ride for whistleblower and ex-CEO Michael Woodford after hearing news break yesterday that Japanese prosecutors had arrested three of Olympus’ top executives and four of its consultants for a $1.7 billion fraud.

At each twist and turn of the Olympus scandal, I have followed Woodford’s plight and watched anxiously as he has moved from accuser to whistleblower to now, crusader, in a saga that is not even close to being finished. This story, along with many others, will be just a few of the highlights at the 23rd Annual Fraud Conference & Exhibition in Orlando this June.

Woodford is one of five keynote speakers to address the more than 2,300 anti-fraud professionals at this year’s Conference. Joining him is U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act; Pamela Meyer, CFE, best-selling author of Liespotting; Diana Henriques, The New York Times senior financial writer and author of The Wizard of Lies; and Mark Whitacre, convicted fraudster and subject of “The Informant.”

To add to the keynote roster, the more than 60 breakout sessions spread out over 12 tracks round out a conference offering something for everyone. Here are a few session titles to spark your curiosity:

• Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Online and Fraud
• Ethics Panel: It May Be Legal, But is it Ethical?
• Online Fraud in the Age of “Wikileaks”
• Putting the Freud in Fraud
• The UK Bribery Act, the FCPA and the Rising Tide of Anti- Corruption
• Developing the Corporate Investigator, the First Year
• Financial Statement Fraud - Chinese Style
• Managing Client Expectations

Ok, I’ve probably already given away too much. We look forward to another exciting Conference and hope to see you in Orlando in June. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.

Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA
ACFE VP and Program Director

Culturally, we are all very different. But for those of us who wake up every morning determined to decrease fraud worldwide, we are all on the same page. At times, I get so caught up in my own surroundings here in Austin that I forget about the vibrant and complex rest of the world happening just a few plane rides away. Recently, though, I was fortunate enough to lead an ACFE training in Asia, and while I was there I couldn’t help but reflect on the phrase we often toss around here: “Fraud truly knows no boundaries.”

In one particular country I visited, I spoke to one of our members working in the banking industry. He told me of a substantial fraud that took place in one of his company’s branches. Apparently, it was common for fraudsters to bring in “authentic” signatures on lending paperwork and for those documents to be accepted by the branch director without question.

What was unnerving to me was the laissez faire attitude about fraud as it related to those involved in the scheme. It was seen as accepted and part of the daily routine of doing business. Despite the adoption and enforcement of anti-fraud legislation around the globe, it is sad that there are still areas in which fraud is an accepted form of behavior. But, at the same time, it made me proud to be part of a 60,000-member worldwide team dedicated to making a change. 

I will be traveling to Asia again next month to help teach our popular CFE Exam Review Course for the first time in Singapore. We are excited to bring this course to the Asia-Pacific area not only to provide training for those seeking to become CFEs, but in a much larger sense, to increase fraud awareness and continue the mission of bringing about a paradigm shift in attitudes towards anti-fraud programs to those who have yet to fully embrace them.

Until next time…

Mashable

Lonely hearts seeking love this Valentine’s Day, be wary. Online dating fraud rose by 150% percent in 2011 as scammers and hucksters turned up the false charm and predatory trolling.

Read the full article here.