Ayleen Charlotte: Breaking Down the Shame and Taboo of Fraud

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Ayleen Charlotte: Breaking Down the Shame and Taboo of Fraud

Ayleen Charlotte, fraud victim turned hero, started off her keynote address at the 2023 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe with the story that thrust her into the spotlight — a romantic tryst with a man she later learned was a convicted fraudster. Her romantic past — an emotional roller coaster and whirlwind romance, turned negative mental states, turned sweet revenge plot — was the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary, “The Tinder Swindler,” watched by people across 200 countries around the world.

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Moving Toward a New Fraud Ecosystem

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Moving Toward a New Fraud Ecosystem

The fraud reporting system in the U.K. is broken, and there needs to be a fundamental change in the process of reporting cases, thus creating “one fraud ecosystem” that keeps victims a major priority. That’s the message Nick Downing, Director of Deloitte Forensic, was hoping to get across in the session titled “Resetting the Dial: Transforming the Fraud Reporting and Response Ecosystem, Sponsored by Deloitte” at the 2023 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe.

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Reevaluating the PEACE Interview Method in a Remote World

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Reevaluating the PEACE Interview Method in a Remote World

Many of you have probably heard of the PEACE framework for investigative interviewing. Since the changes brought on by the pandemic have taken effect, some pros and cons have emerged with this method of interviewing. Bruce Pitt-Payne, a long-time investigator with Royal Canadian Mounted Police, broke it all down at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, in his virtual session “The Pros and Cons of Conducting Virtual Investigative Interviews.”

Before he got started, and many times during his presentation, Pitt-Payne wanted to clarify that when he uses the word “cons,” it’s not always in a negative connotation. When he uses the word, he says we should think of “considerations,” or just reevaluating how we did things before and looking at things in a different way.

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Things Have Really Changed...Including Surveillance Investigations

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Things Have Really Changed...Including Surveillance Investigations

There was a little bit of humor to start Keith Elliott’s session, “Investigations and Surveillance in Today’s Landscape,” at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. It was Elliott’s segway into how things have changed so much since the start of the pandemic, including surveillance in investigations.

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The Unholy Prospect of Occupational Fraud in Churches, Nonprofits and Other Community Organizations

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The Unholy Prospect of Occupational Fraud in Churches, Nonprofits and Other Community Organizations

Anyone and any organization can become a victim of fraud, and, unfortunately, occupational fraud can hit nonprofits and other community organizations that may be near and dear to our hearts. According to Rollie Dimos, CFE, CIA, Internal Audit Director of the General Counsel of the Assemblies, fraud at these organizations is so common because there aren’t many prevention controls in place. He outlined the threat of fraud and what can be done to stop it in his session “Increasing Integrity by Reducing Fraud at Nonprofits and Community Organizations” at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Fraud Investigations in a Remote World: How to Pick up on Social Cues From Behind a Computer Screen

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Fraud Investigations in a Remote World: How to Pick up on Social Cues From Behind a Computer Screen

Aspects of our life that we probably never thought would need to go remote or virtual have gone that way due to the pandemic. That includes fraud investigations which commonly included the observance of behaviors of people suspected of fraud.

So, does this mean you can’t get the whole picture of telling body language during a fraud investigation done remotely? According to Rupert Evill, CFE, there are still mannerisms you can pick up behind a computer screen. He outlined them during his session “Behavioral Analysis and Truth Detection in the Remote Era” at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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It Takes a Village: Educating the Community on Fraud Prevention

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It Takes a Village: Educating the Community on Fraud Prevention

You’ve heard the phrase “it takes a village.” Well, it takes a village to effectively fight fraud, and this sentiment was echoed during the “Building a Community-Oriented Fraud Strategy” virtual session at the 33rd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. Philip Swan, CFE, FCLA, FRM is Fraud Manager at Gate City Bank headquartered in Fargo, ND. He has executed several anti-fraud educational programs for different groups of people around his community.

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