Fraud links you might find interesting

Hello Friends –

I am still writing that book on fraud in government! This one has taken me years to pull together because fraudsters are extremely creative and the stories just keep popping up – and I just keep adding them to the book!

But, in case you don’t want to read my whole self-study book on the subject later this year, I thought I’d refer you to several stories and resources you might be interested in checking out now:

• Here is an article I found interesting: University professor helps FBI crack $70 million cybercrime ring: http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10792287-university-professor-helps-fbi-crack-70-million-cybercrime-ring

• In the article, they mention an FBI affiliated group called INFRAGUARD.  For more on that group – whose mission is to protect government infrastructure from cybercrime – see http://www.infragard.net/.

• The professor in the article, has an interesting blog at: http://garwarner.blogspot.com/

• His blog pointed me to this story: Did you hear about The State of Utah losing 720,000 citizen’s personal data? Utah only has 2.8 million citizens! http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54116598-78/health-data-information-state.html.csp

• And I got a lot out of this white paper on various cyber crimes by FirstData: http://www.firstdata.com/downloads/thought-leadership/fraudtrends2010_wp.pdf

• You might also want to look at the Association of Certified Fraud examiners proposed standards at: http://www.acfe.com/standards2012.aspx

• And this is one of my favorite lists of fraudster traits, in case you are hanging out with one, unawares :). Check out the section entitled “Red flags not to be missed” from this KPMG report: http://www.kpmg.com/UK/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/PDF/Advisory/253904_Profile_of_a_Fraudster_web_accessible.pdf

• Did you miss these entertaining movies about fraud? Use your Netflix to watch:

– The Informant starring Matt Damon
– Catch Me if You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio
– The Smartest Guys in the Room about the Enron Scandal

If you want to earn free CPE by serving as a tester for my upcoming self-study course on this subject entitled, “An Auditor’s Responsibility for Fraud in the Government Environment,” please let me know via email at leita@yellowbook-cpe.com.

Stay cool and stay alert!