Episode Description

In this episode, we explore the five most critical types of corporate investigations that can protect your business from financial losses, legal risks, and competitive disadvantages. Learn how professional investigations can save your company significant money and help you make informed business decisions.

Top 5 Corporate Investigations Covered:

• Internal Embezzlement
  • When employees or managers steal from your company
  • Losses are 4x higher when discovered through accounting vs. investigation
  • Focus on the fraud triangle: ability, need, and justification of the employee
  • Identifying how and why employees are stealing
• Corporate Due Diligence
  • Buy-sell transactions: Verify company representations and purchaser finances
  • Vendor assessments: Ensure capability to deliver products/services
  • Credit verification: Validate financial representations for payment terms
  • Risk mitigation for major business partnerships
• Competitor Intelligence
  • Research new or growing competitors in your marketplace
  • Analyze competitor strategies and market positioning
  • Understand how competitors present to shared clients
  • Discover what competitors say about your company
  • Structure campaigns to compete effectively
• Fraud Against the Company
  • Ponzi schemes targeting your business
  • Check kiting schemes
  • Hacking and cybersecurity breaches
  • External fraud prevention and response
• Litigation Tactical Preparation
  • Support for lawsuits and legal actions
  • Research opposing attorneys' litigation styles
  • Identify potential expert witnesses
  • Asset verification for plaintiffs and defendants
  • Strategic preparation with your legal team

Key Takeaway

These five investigation types can help protect your company from significant financial losses while providing critical intelligence for strategic business decisions.

Episode Overview

• Most common type of internal company theft
• Easy opportunity for employees to exploit payment systems
• Involves creating fake vendors to divert company funds

What Are Ghost Vendors?

• Payments made to companies or vendors that don't actually exist
• Employee diverts these payments directly to themselves
• Triggered when employees see company checks and imagine that money going to them
• Any check with a dollar figure becomes tempting to fraudulent employees

How Ghost Vendor Schemes Work

• Employee observes internal payment flow processes
• Identifies who writes checks and who authorizes payments
• Exploits gaps in payment authorization controls
• Creates fake invoices or vendors to generate illegitimate payments

Common Vulnerabilities

• Salesperson can write purchase orders without proper oversight
• Accounting departments blindly follow purchase orders
• Companies accept employee word on payment amounts without verification
• Lack of invoice verification processes
• Insufficient cross-referencing controls

Types of Ghost Vendor Schemes

• Completely Fake Vendors: Non-existent companies created solely for fraud
• Similar Name Companies: Creating companies with names similar to legitimate vendors (e.g., "XYZ Paint Company" vs "XYZ Paint LLC")
• Inflated Invoices: Adding unauthorized items to legitimate invoices

Prevention Strategies

• Require all vendor checks to be mailed directly - no hand delivery
• Treat checks like cash at all times, even when in envelopes
• Ensure checks go directly from bookkeeping to USPS mail system
• Never allow employees to personally deliver checks to post office
• Match vendor addresses with payroll department records
• Flag any payments going to residential addresses
• Watch for payments to mailboxes, PO boxes, or UPS stores
• Implement proper invoice verification procedures

Red Flags to Monitor

• Employees requesting to hand-deliver payments
• Vendor addresses matching employee home addresses
• Payments going to non-business addresses
• Similar company names to existing vendors
• Invoices without proper verification

Professional Investigation Options

• Advanced detection methods available through corporate investigation services
• Professional investigators can implement sophisticated prevention systems

For more information on protecting your business from internal fraud, contact Active Intel Investigations.

Episode Description

Join David from Active Intel Investigations as he breaks down the comprehensive process companies can use to investigate potentially fraudulent reviews of their services. Learn the systematic approach to identify fake reviews, distinguish them from legitimate feedback, and take appropriate action to protect your business reputation.

What You'll Learn:

• Initial Data Collection - How to capture all reviews across multiple platforms (Yelp, Google, travel sites) including both positive and negative feedback for comprehensive analysis
• Cross-Reference Investigation - Techniques for gathering social media records, discussion forum posts, and public writings from reviewers, competitors, employees, and disgruntled customers
• LinkedIn Intelligence - Why LinkedIn is a frequently overlooked but valuable source of information in review fraud investigations
• Pattern Analysis - Methods for comparing thousands of posts and social media data points, including:
  • Dates and times of postings
  • Typographical errors and grammar styles
  • Factual disclosures and unusual life factors
  • Medical conditions and travel mentions
• Advanced Technology Tools - How algorithms and artificial intelligence can streamline the process of identifying patterns across thousands of data sources
• Secondary Source Investigation - Techniques for analyzing PDF files, spreadsheets, and legal court filings that may overlay onto identified patterns
• IP Address Analysis - How to flag posts and identify common IP addresses through proper platform requests
• The Four D's Strategy - Your action plan once fraudulent posts are identified:
  • Deletion - Requesting removal from platforms
  • Damages - Pursuing compensation from fraudulent providers
  • Disclosure - Obtaining admissions from competitors
  • Defense - Protecting against future fraudulent reviews

Key Takeaways:

This episode provides a systematic, technology-enhanced approach to review fraud investigation that goes beyond simple review monitoring to include comprehensive social media analysis and legal remedies.

Hosted by David from Active Intel Investigations