I read with some concern an article in this Sunday’s papers about the plans of City of London Police Economic Crime Unit for the coming year. Detective Chief Superintendent Stephen Head is on record saying ‘…as with the drugs trade, there is little point picking up a lot of small fry while the big operators [...]

The first decade of this millennium has been characterised by quite a lot of substantial frauds when you pause to look back. We have seen massive accounting scandals in the form of Enron and Parmalat – who would have thought that a top tier accountancy practice could collapse as a result of such a scandal as [...]

There is a definite rise in the incidence of employment fraud during a recession, though this will often only come to light in the months and even years following an economic downturn. Some employment fraud however will be discovered during the downturn, as hard pressed companies take a closer look at their finances and discover [...]

Recent news has been announced of the embezzlement of toy giant Toys R Us by a dull and uninspiring employee – accountant Mr Hopes. He has stolen some £3.7 million by issuing fraudulent invoices to the company and arranging for payment to be made (into bank accounts that he controlled). Mr Hopes will spend several [...]

I was thinking about the different types of fraud that I have investigated over the years and I realised that Charity Fraud was one of the main subjects cropping up again and again. It seems that charities are prone to the attack of the fraudster. This might be for two different reasons: 1. The fraudster [...]

Having spend the best part of two days writing my latest newsletter, printing it, wrestling with getting a colour header (and failing), signing it and stuffing around 750 into envelopes with a covering letter, I did not feel like spending the last hour or two of today, the first day of December, doing any proper work! Actually I did [...]

Back to work after a week off and my thoughts again turn to marketing my business. I am about to send out a newsletter in connection with my fraud expert witness work and have been musing about the current state of the investigation industry. While I am comfortably occupied with work, perhaps now is the [...]

I thought that an article in the Sunday papers about the Serious Fraud Office this week would be a welcome read. However as I read down the first colmun the old cynicism crept in! The piece was an interview with a senior staff member Phillippa Williamson. It was not the human angle that annoyed me, [...]

Our criminal justice system has grown up over centuries as our society has progressed and is thought to be fair. Others criticise us, saying perhaps we are too soft on criminals. However, being magnanimous is probably better than being ruled by autocrats and tyrants. Better than having a hand chopped off for stealing. Better than [...]

I heard on the news today about a number of T Mobile employees who were selling customers’ details to competitors. Apparently this activity is rife amongst businesses that deal in such sensitive but valuable data as mobile users’ names and contact details – and when dates of their current contract is up! This is theft, [...]