Successfully Committing Fraud
Did you ever fantasize about committing fraud at your job? There is a right and a wrong way to commit fraud, and if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it correctly.
Don’t wory… I’m not really recommending that anyone commit fraud against your company. I’m simply putting a humorous twist on this serious topic. This article is really meant to help business owners and executives detect some of the most common fraud red flags.
Remembering that… Here are a few valuable guidelines to increase your chances of pulling off a fraud at work.
Don’t Act Suspicious
Don’t complain a lot at work. Don’t obviously fight the workrules. Make it seem as if you are going along with the policies and procedures, and do not create trouble for your work mates or supervisors. You never want to seem like a difficult employee. These types of workers cause suspicion.
Do not discuss or exhibit any deceitful behavior. Do not talk about conning your associate out of money. Do not boast about how you cheated the drycleaner. Don’t divulge that you filed a false insurance claim. Deceitful behavior in your personal life can make supervisors suspicious about the likelihood that you will commit fraud at work. You don’t want to offer them any hints.
Money concerns in your private life may also cause your manager to get suspicious. Saying that you’re underpaid isn’t smart either. Equally as troubling is boasting that you do more work than you’re compensated for. The basic rule of thumb is to not give your boos a reason to think that you need money or would be inclined to commit fraud.
Cooperate With Management
Be helpful at work, but don’t exaggerate it. While you want to make sure that you’re completing all your job responsibilities without calling attention to your work. It’s especially important that you not go out of your way to do things that give you access to out-of-the ordinary documents, information, or money. This access could make you look suspect.
If your documents are being audited by someone, be as helpful as possible. It’s important to provide all requested documentation in a timely fashion. Try to fulfill every demand for materials and not give the auditors any reason to think that you’re concealing something.
Never Take a Vacation
Unavoidably, when you go on vacation or get sick, one of two things happens. An upset client or vendor phones your job, someone starts looking into it, and they find out that you’ve been committing fraud and you are the reason the caller’s account is wrong.
The other scenario is that all goes fine while you’re gone, but when your boss later finds out you are stealing, they compare the suspect documents to those from your vacation time. Of course, they find that while you were gone, all the funds are intact. When you’re at work, funds go missing — proof of your guilt.
Other telltale things can happen while you’re gone. The IRS can show up and ask for those missing payroll taxes — the ones you’ve been stealing instead of sending in. Or a check from your company could unexpectedly bounce, leading someone to look more closely at the checking account, thereby revealing your theft. There is also the chance that an overdue notice from a supplier might come in the mail while you’re off, also revealing your theft. You don’t want to take any risks with these types of things, so come to work every day.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE is an author, fraud investigator, and entreprenuer at Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting in Milwaukee and Chicago. She is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud, a book that guides executives, attorneys, and accountants through the topics of fraud detection, investigation, and prevention.
