Archive | Dec 2008
Carnival of Fraud
Welcome to the December 29, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Wenchypoo presents Update With Bonus: The “Con” in Lexicon posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket, saying, “An explanation of how mere words can rob us blind if we let them.” Peter presents Greed. It Never Ends Well. posted at Bible Money Matters, saying, [...]
Continue reading...Carnival of Personal Finance #185: Cheesehead Edition
28 Dec 2008
Welcome to the last Carnival of Personal Finance for 2008, The Cheesehead Edition. I’m located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I send greetings from fellow Cheeseheads. We’ve had an interesting winter so far, with record-level snowfalls in December, followed by record high temperatures on Saturday, and now back to freezing temperatures. Hopefully this week’s Carnival of [...]
Continue reading...Property tax sticker shock
26 Dec 2008
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes today about the sticker shock property owners are having when they open their property tax bills. The taxes have gone up in general, but property owners are frosted because their assessments no longer match the real market value of their houses. The reality is that property values are generally down, and [...]
Continue reading...Wondering why frauds at public companies aren’t being pursued by the Feds?
24 Dec 2008
Consumers are often left wondering why the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t heavily pursue allegations of fraud against public companies like Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA), Herbalife (NYSE:HLF), and the like. I’ve always said the answer is simple: There are not enough resources devoted to investigating and prosecuting fraud in public companies. Executives are [...]
Continue reading...How to make social media a total waste of time
23 Dec 2008
I admit it: I’m not a lover of all things social media. I am participating in the Facebook and Twitter discussions a bit begrudgingly. It’s not that I don’t think these tools work to grow businesses and create interesting discourse. They do. It’s just that as a solo, I have only so much time available to [...]
Continue reading...$65 million fraud via a shell company scheme
23 Dec 2008
The IRS is accusing Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, vice president of Fry’s Electronics Inc., of embezzling more than $65 million from the company via a shell company scheme. They say he used the money to pay gambling debts in Las Vegas A textbook shell company scheme would go like this: Set up a company that sources goods [...]
Continue reading...For students and job seekers: Becoming a fraud investigator
21 Dec 2008
I routinely get emails from students, job seekers, or the gainfully employed who want to make a career change… all asking me for advice on getting into the field of forensic accounting and fraud investigation. Here are my top three tips for getting into this field:
Continue reading...Big Three bankruptcy impact distorted
18 Dec 2008
Last week at the 2008 Inforum Outlook Conference, a presentation was given about the impact of potential bankruptcy filings of the Big Three automakers, GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The media has cited figures ranging from 2 million to 3 million jobs lost. A study of such bankruptcy filings found that the figure of 3 million jobs [...]
Continue reading...More TARP secrecy
17 Dec 2008
Remember when the leaders of this whole Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) promised us that the spending of our 20 gajillion taxpayer dollars would be “transparent”???? Transparent apparently is synonymous with the word “secret” in their world. How many ways can our government be un-transparent? Contracts with professional services firms providing services related to TARP have [...]
Continue reading...Who is making money as a United First Financial agent?
17 Dec 2008
Not many people, that’s for sure. As with any multi-level marketing company, a tiny fraction of people at the very top of the recruiting pyramid make some money, and everyone else makes little to nothing. Here are the numbers posted on a UFF agent’s website in August 2008 (click to see full size):
Continue reading...- Carnival of Personal Finance #185: Cheesehead Edition
- Buying a job with Haverhill Home Staging? Questionable.
- Why I hate Intuit and Quickbooks
- A reader researches Shop To Earn
- Fraud Discovery Institute releases new report about Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
- United First Financial: Don't believe the hype
- "Climate change": Just another fraud on consumers
- Who pays all the income taxes?
- Selling your soul to Usana Health Sciences for $27,000 a year
- Naked Short Selling: A complete waste of resources
- João Camacho: I just want to end my trial with Intuit WebServices and...
- Chris: I went to one of these “Business Opportunity Meetings” at...
- Tom Coyes: I am really glad I dumped Intuit, Sage, MS and all the rest a few...
- Tracy Coenen: LOL – A dream stealer and a failure. Like I’ve...
- you wouldn't know.: tracey………aus tralia is one of the...
- Tracy Coenen: On the contrary, Delena, quitting Mary Kay does NOT ruin...
- dusty: this message is for stufrogg, I love you buy term and invest the...
- dusty: Lets be honest, Primerica is a pyramid scheme. Channing, I am sorry...
- FTC taking action against Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc.
- Overstock.com: The circus continues
- Overstock.com admits they’re clueless about the accounting rules
- UFF Agents don’t understand basic math and concepts related to debt
- Conservatism is no excuse for false financial statements, Overstock.com
- United First Financial: Don’t believe the hype
- Allegations that the arbitration process is rigged against consumers
- From criminal to credible?
- Evidence of massive naked short selling. Or not.
- Buyer Beware: Fraud committed by Bagshop.com and Petticoat Lane scammers
About the Author
Tracy Coenen is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner in Chicago and Milwaukee who investigates white collar crimes, including cases of financial statement fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and insurance fraud. She is the author of Expert Fraud Investigation and Essentials of Corporate Fraud and more than 100 articles on fraud featured in industry publications.
31 Dec 2008
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