Archive | Sep 2007
Steroid ring involving 37 Chinese companies
The Drug Enforcement Administration now estimates that 99% of illegal steroids being with chemicals from China. “Operation Raw Deal,” related to illegal steroids has resulted in 124 arrests and the identification of 37 companies in China supplying the drugs. Those arrested have been charged with distributing chemicals acquired in China and with setting up labs in [...]
Continue reading...5 Ways Supermarkets Trick You into Shopping Their Way
25 Sep 2007
From “shelf shuffles” to “end caps” and “eye candy,” supermarkets have slick ways of getting customers to stay longer and spend more. read more | digg story
Continue reading...Apple warning consumers about iPhone hacks
24 Sep 2007
There was jubilation amongst current and future iPhone users when it was announced that techies had created hacks to get around some security features. One of the more popular hacks was one to help iPhone users be able to use wireless networks other than AT&T (the only “authorized” provider of iPhone service right now). Well, Apple [...]
Continue reading...Dubai Buys 20 Percent of Nasdaq Stock Market
24 Sep 2007
The Nasdaq Stock Market is selling a nearly 20 percent stake to Borse Dubai and is taking control of the Nordic exchange operator OMX as part of a sweeping settlement of their battle for control of OMX. In a global stock market shakeup, Borse Dubai and a group from Qatar also moved to become [...]
Continue reading...Judd Bagley antics: Part 3
21 Sep 2007
ScipioAfricanus then brings us to the story of SlimVirgin. SlimVirgin is an administrator for Wikipedia. Judd Bagley has been known to sock puppet on Wikipedia with many screen names, and the administrators have disallowed these things. (They even went so far as to ban Wikipedia editing from all IP addresses owned by Overstock.com.) Naturally, Bagley isn’t [...]
Continue reading...More Judd Bagley: Part 2
21 Sep 2007
Our pal ScipioAfricanus gives us more information on the Overstock.com “Black Ops” activity. Judd Bagley, Director of Communications at Overstock.com, has this nasty little habit related to spyware. He’s been caught embedding images in public message board posts… those special images (not visible if you just look at the face of the post itself) send [...]
Continue reading...Catching up on Judd Bagley: Part 1
21 Sep 2007
I’ve been a bit remiss in my blogging about the train wreck that is called Overstock. com. The CEO, Patrick Byrne (known to many as “Wacky Patty”) and his Director of Communications, Judd Bagley regularly engage in questionable behavior in an attempt to shut up the critics of Overstock. The crazy thing? Why don’t they [...]
Continue reading...Book publishing: The book is done!
20 Sep 2007
The final manuscript was sent today, so Essentials of Corporate Fraud is officially done. I’ll have a small bit of work to do after the copy editors get their hands on it, but I don’t expect there to be much to do in that regard. Overall the process of writing the book was fun. I wrote [...]
Continue reading...Okay, I did it. I watched Kid Nation.
19 Sep 2007
A month ago, I did a post on the new reality television show called Kid Nation. I was basically horrified as I learned that the children on this show were exploited by their parents, who signed lengthy contracts allowing their children to participate. The kids were given little supervision, and the parents agreed to not [...]
Continue reading...Food Stamp Follies: Oregon Governor’s Publicity Stunt, and the Reporting
19 Sep 2007
Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski got lots of attention earlier this week as he tried to show us how allegedly inadequate the Food Stamp program is. However, the USDA’s “food stamp budget” provides per-person per-week benefits to recipients with no other available resources that are 28%-70% higher than the $21 used in the article. read more [...]
Continue reading...- A new pyramid scheme: United First Financial
- Mary Kay Cosmetics: Destroying half a million women a year
- Ufirst Money Merge Account: Resistance is futile
- Vendor talks, Usana squawks
- United First Financial agent compensation plan
- The Sarah Palin pregnancy cover-up that wasn't (updated)
- Why can't I pee on my neighbor's lawn?
- $3,500 wasted with United First Financial, per Dave Ramsey
- What does Dave Ramsey think about United First Financial
- Searching for Shop to Earn scam
- Tracy Coenen: Detecting fraud is not an objective of audits. In fact, the...
- Craig Hansen: Joe beat me to it. If you really can cut your mortgage from 24...
- JoeTaxpayer: How’s that? Without even looking at a calculator, I can...
- Charles: Tracy - detecting fraud is one objective of an audit. I agree it is...
- Howard: You have no idea what u are talking about. I signed up for UFF and...
- Tracy Coenen: Charles - You may not go so far as to say that, but I will and...
- Charles: Tracy - I would not go as far as saying audits do “little to...
- Tracy Coenen: Here’s a good sample engagement letter:...
- Tracy Coenen: Thanks for your insightful comments Charles. The peer reviews...
- Tracy Coenen: No, they are not. I will post a letter or two.
- Planned Parenthood violating Indiana’s sexual abuse laws
- More public company executives with falsified credentials
- MPS spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants who will tell them they suck
- Milwaukee Public Schools wasteful spending exposed
- The Overstock.com train wreck continues
- United First Financial broker numbers and earnings
- No Surprise: The “bailout bill” is falling apart
- More gifts from the government for the financially irresponsible
- Credit card company bailout next?
- Election fraud and the future of America
About the Author
Tracy Coenen is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner who investigates white collar crimes, including cases of financial statement fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and insurance fraud. She is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud and more than 100 articles on fraud featured in industry publications.
25 Sep 2007
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