What We Can Learn From the Wirecard Whistleblower

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What We Can Learn From the Wirecard Whistleblower

The Wirecard scandal was one of Germany’s biggest accounting frauds, and many anti-fraud professionals followed the saga of its crash with baited breath. It makes sense, then, that virtual attendees of the ACFE Fraud Conference Asia-Pacific eagerly attended the conversation between Pav Gill, a lawyer best known as the Wirecard whistleblower, and Stefania Palma, a Financial Times Singapore correspondent who helped Gill break the story.

Wirecard, a German payment processor and financial services provider, crashed in 2020 after admitting to a €1.9 billion misrepresentation of funds. While the fraud rocked the fintech world at large, it also forever altered the life of Gill and his former colleagues. Given his significant role in the company’s downfall, Gill offered valuable insight during his conversation with Palma, which offered a platform for him to share his story and to address the lessons learned.

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Beyond Picture Perfect Diversity: How to Create a Sense of Inclusion

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Beyond Picture Perfect Diversity: How to Create a Sense of Inclusion

Dima Ghawi began her session at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference with a question for virtual attendees: “Why do you believe talking about DEI is important?” While she waited for responses to filter through the chat, she shared a story about her friend whose personal and professional life suffered when he felt like he had to hide part of his identity. Afraid to inform his workplace of his sexual orientation because he felt the community would no longer accept him, Ghawi’s friend started drinking heavily as a coping mechanism, which affected the way he performed at work. To summarize her story, Ghawi stated, “It affects all of us when we are being discriminated…emotionally, physically and at a genetic level.” Therein lies the answer to her opening question.

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Advice From the C-Suite — “Stay Skeptical”

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Advice From the C-Suite — “Stay Skeptical”

Fraud examiners understand that investing in fraud prevention and deterrence, along with resources to help investigate fraud, is pivotal for organizations of any size. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, fraudsters pounced on new opportunities created by the changing economic and working environment. However, along with an increase in fraud, many anti-fraud professionals saw their organizations cutting back on budget during this time due to the shifting economy. If convincing their C-suite to invest in anti-fraud resources was difficult before, the pandemic likely made that task even more challenging.

So what trends and areas of concern are executive-level anti-fraud professionals seeing today? In the panel discussion, “The C-Suite's View on Fraud,” at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, the participants offered a glimpse into their day-to-day lives as they balanced larger organizational business objectives during a time of international crisis while keeping an eye to the future for preventing fraud.

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Do Your Employees Want to Find Fraud?

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Do Your Employees Want to Find Fraud?

When ACFE Regent Kenneth Dieffenbach, CFE, took to the virtual stage at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, he reminded his audience of their pivotal role. “Fraud examination really does matter, no matter how tedious or lengthy investigations can be,” he said. He stressed the importance especially for fraud examiners working in the public sector. “No matter where you live, travel, or work, the government has to have the proper guardrails to fight and deter corruption. Some governments have a higher perception of corruption than others, but they’re all at risk for public and private corruption.”

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Learning From the SolarWinds Cyberattack: Ways to Protect Your Organization Now

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Learning From the SolarWinds Cyberattack: Ways to Protect Your Organization Now

Some cyberattacks are so groundbreaking that it takes some time before we can fully examine what happened and what we can learn from the incident. Such was the case with the SolarWinds cyberattack, which was the largest attack of its kind to date. In a virtual session during the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Stephen Head, CFE, who specializes in information security, recounted the attack and outlined how organizations can take steps right now to build better protection.

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Lessons From the “Original Internet Godfather”

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Lessons From the “Original Internet Godfather”

Known as the “Original Internet Godfather” for his exploits as one of the first cybercriminals, Brett Johnson’s life reads like a Hollywood film script, and his story of crime serves as a lesson for fraudsters and the law enforcement officials who hunt them down.

After being placed on the United States Most Wanted List, captured and convicted of 39 felonies, he escaped prison. Captured again, Johnson served his time and accepted responsibility. He now advises the FBI and corporate America about how to understand a virtual underworld that he helped create.

“Those 39 felonies had to do with refining a lot of the different online financial crimes we see today, from account takeovers, credit card fraud, phishing schemes and tax return identity theft,” he told John Gill, J.D., CFE, ACFE vice president – education, at the closing session of the ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Empowering People to Question Is the First Line of Defense Against Fraud

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Empowering People to Question Is the First Line of Defense Against Fraud

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the federal government spent more than $586 billion on contracts in fiscal year 2019. With that much money floating around, it’s no surprise that fraudsters often target the contract awarding process. Vince Haecker, Ed.D., assistant special agent-in-charge in western region investigations for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Inspector General, explained to attendees at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference how common fraud schemes occur in the contract process.

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