DataVisor Global Fraud Watch April 2021
No business or organization wants to be on the receiving end of fraud. However, no one is ever completely immune from fraudsters, either. One strategy in identifying fraud and helping you mitigate this possibility is to learn from others’ misfortune. Fraud awareness is an essential piece of the fraud prevention puzzle. These recent cases of fraud illustrate global fraud trends that could make their way into your business.
Medicare Scam Unveiled Due to Bad Math
Internal fraud is hard enough to detect when it’s your employees committing the crime. But what happens when it’s the owner of the business?
The owner of a rehabilitative mental health clinic tried to siphon nearly $500,000 from Medicare, stating she provided more than 24 hours of service to Medicare beneficiaries every day over the course of several months. Medicare auditors noticed her claims didn’t quite add up and were able to uncover the scam.
PPP Fraud Continues to Unveil Itself
When the Paycheck Protection Program was first unveiled, it caught the eyes of legitimate business owners and fraudsters alike because the bar to entry was relatively low. Very little documentation had to be provided to acquire the funds, plus the loans would be eligible for forgiveness later.
Nearly a year later, we are seeing the effects of scammers trying to beat the system.
One man in Florida has been caught trying to obtain more than $1.5 million in PPP loan money over the course of nine loan applications. Alongside his own name, he stole the identities of eight elderly individuals (one was a family member and the other seven lived in assisted living facilities). Applications were submitted to nine different credit unions and banks to avoid detection. What’s more, the businesses the loan money was intended for didn’t exist.
The Man with 35 Faces
In many cases, fraud is conducted on a large scale among multiple entities. This was partly the case with a Georgia man who stole 35 identities to carry out his fraud attempts. He exploited the ease and visual concealment that comes with online banking to open unfunded accounts across multiple banks.
He used the accounts to transfer fraudulent funds from one account to the next, even though there were no funds to support the transfers. The accounts would show an anticipated balance, which the man used to pay off student loans and credit card debt and would do so before the banks realized no funds were actually coming through. The total cost of his misdeeds: $185,000+.
It’s noted that this type of banking fraud is very difficult to identify and even harder to trace. This underscores the growing need for advanced fraud solutions that can cover all types of threats in real time.
Want to learn more about how Datavisor can help you improve fraud detection? We can help with that. Request a demo and experience the power of proactive AI-powered fraud prevention today.
