Exposing Fraud

CHAPTER 4 Exposing Fraud: Fraud Investigation at Work

‘There is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.’

—Sherlock Holmes, A Case of Identity

  INTRODUCTION

In previous chapters I displayed underlying causes, motivations and effects, but now we stabilise the work by highlighting the finite behaviour of the ‘planner’ of fraud and even the serial fraudster. A balance between the spontaneous fraud act and the offender who is constantly predisposed to committing it, and adept at misrepresentation, by act, deed, forgery or silence. As investigators of fraud it is crucial that you appreciate some self-appraisal of your whole approach to investigating fraud, which leads this chapter. Investigation is not massively complicated, but it takes clinical approaches, lateral thinking and character to do it well. This chapter will help you gauge this.

Likewise, we include an element of eye witness testimony, which is all too often now discarded by some as not being ‘relevant’ (understandable when one becomes conditioned to reading and deciphering masses of data, for example).

Other central themes of this chapter are:

• Collusion and understanding the systemic behavioural fraud patterns that collusion in fraud creates and, for us, the pathway to detecting it.
• Investigative psychology (as outlined in Chapter 2) has to be included in any credible study of fraud investigation to underpin skills ...