{"id":1191,"date":"2017-11-16T14:33:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T14:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crigroup.com\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2022-10-12T14:42:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T14:42:54","slug":"international-fraud-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crigroup.com\/ar\/international-fraud-week\/","title":{"rendered":"CRI\u00ae celebrates Fraud Week 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

2021 International Fraud Awareness Week (also called\u00a0<\/span>\u201cFraud Week\u201d<\/span><\/a>) kicked off on Sunday and is in full swing.\u00a0<\/span>CRI\u00ae Group<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a proud supporter of this critical initiative every year, and we encourage business leaders to take this time to consider all of their fraud prevention measures, including anti-fraud training for employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does your organization have a training program addressing fraud, bribery and corruption? And, if so, how robust is your training? How often is it administered? And how do you know it\u2019s working?<\/span><\/p>\n

These are important questions, especially because we know most fraud is discovered internally through employee tips. A recent case study is a perfect illustration of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Case study: Conflicts of interest<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

A major pharmaceutical company\u2019s security department received a conflict of interest complaints that reportedly involved a range of employees, from sales personnel to the chief financial officer (CFO). The company engaged CRI\u00ae Group to conduct an\u00a0<\/span>integrity due diligence<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and conflict of interest investigation to uncover senior employees’ unethical practices, including bribery and corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n

CRI\u00ae Group\u2019s investigators quickly launched a risk assessment of the company\u2019s third-party relationships, including interviews with identified vendors and suppliers to help ascertain the engagement process and associated risks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Investigators found one of the vendors used letterhead that lacked a physical address, and the only contact information listed was a single cell phone number. Site visits,\u00a0<\/span>background checks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and interviews helped determine that the suspicious vendor was not a company at all \u2013 but a single person, and he was none other than the brother-in-law of the client company\u2019s CFO. Worse still was that this obvious fraud was being conducted right under the noses of the company\u2019s procurement and finance professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n

CRI\u00ae Group investigators discovered that the individual\u2019s residence was being utilized as a warehouse to help facilitate the fraud. Comprehensive litigation records check with local and regional courts found that the subject was previously convicted in federal court and spent three years in prison for the charges of selling counterfeit products, physician samples and expired medicines; further regulatory checks found that his pharmacist license had been cancelled.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fraud had continued for five years. However, the one thing that saved the company from further financial harm was that employees had stepped forward to report unethical behavior. If not for their action, the fraud could have continued indefinitely.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraud Week reminds us that awareness is any organization’s first line of defense against fraud and corruption, as properly trained employees will have a better opportunity to recognize the red flags of fraud and better understand their organization’s zero-tolerance policy toward such behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some key things to remember:<\/span><\/p>\n