Zero tolerance to Frauds

At times we all look for a change in job or want to explore some business proposal, while doing the same, we also need to protect ourselves against frauds. There could be various red flags, for now below are three which one should look out for, to protect against frauds: 1- Advance payment - Such schemes are aptly called “Advance fee scams” and there are multiple variants, which range from offers of “work from job/business”, “jobs in foreign country”, “balance left in account of a distant relative”, “someone who wants to help people by making donations/charity”, “lottery prizes”.Whatever be the variant/modus operandi, one thing is definite that they want advance payment before providing you the product/service/job/business etc. 2- Unsolicited jobs/business partnership - In the times where for any job there are hundreds of applicants and startups/existing businesses chase venture funds, it’s strange when one gets a “too good to be true” job/investment proposal without even ap...

While large organisations are usually target of fraudsters as rewards are better if their attempts are successful but at the same time it is difficult to succeed as large organisations often have resources in place to counter frauds. For fraudsters it makes sense to target smaller organisations and they make up by targeting larger number of such organisations. The reason for this is that small organisations generally do not invest in tools/resources to counter frauds, which makes sense considering cost-benefit equation. I have documented some tips which do not require much resources but could be very effective to counter risk of fraud for SMEs and startups. Fraud not only causes financial loss but also cause productivity loss (it takes up time of staff which could be otherwise utilised for achieving business objectives) and poses risk to reputation. 1- Fraud Risk Policy - It need not be very elaborate but must cover certain key elements including what is fraud and provide...

These are basic guidelines which would go a long way towards fraud prevention & detection. Any Anti fraud expert would vouch for it that job rotation is the most effective and efficient way of fraud detection. I have heard stories about how clerks in certain nationalized banks in India, would give a pass to promotions to avoid getting transferred. There may be genuine reasons for the same or a understanding that if they move, irregularities may come to light. I have seen Indian regulator being very active in terms of taking proactive action and people working there understand what they are talking about. I recall this is second set of specific guidelines issued by RBI on fraud risk. Good to see that fraud is being recognized as a key threat, at least those organizations who think of fraud risk management related investment as a cost would understand importance of it. I expect rise in demand for Anti Fraud professionals through such steps, similarly vendors provid...