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TRAINING
Tampa Bay Chapter
Chapter dinner meetings are a great way to network while enjoying a
meal. At $15, it is also an easy and affordable way to obtain an
hour of CPE.
Dinner Meetings
February 8, 2005
"White Collar or Economic Crime"
March 8, 2005
"Consumer Fraud"
April 12, 2005
"Auditing for Financial Fraud"
6th Annual Fraud & Computer
Crimes Seminar
May 10 - 11, 2005
FDLE Headquarters
4211 N. Lois Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33614
2004 - 2005
OFFICERS &
DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT
Penny Borjas, CFE, CIA
TriCenturion
(727) 786-8840 x15718
VICE PRESIDENT
Steve
Hooper, CIA, CFE, CCSA
Clerk of the Circuit Court
Hillsborough County, FL
(813) 276-2029 x7648
SECRETARY
Roland Rodriguez, CFE, CBA
Bank of America
(813) 224-5211
TREASURER
Laura Krueger Brock, CFE, CPA
Cherry, Bekaert, Holland, LLP
(727) 822-8811
DIRECTOR
Mark Dubina,
CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(813) 878-7366
DIRECTOR
Wayne Boytim,
CFE
City of Tampa
Internal Audit
(813) 274-7167
DIRECTOR
Ellen Wilcox, CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(727) 298-2482
CHAPTER TRAINING
Wayne Boytim, CFE
City of Tampa
Internal Audit
(813) 274-7167
JOIN THE TAMPA BAY CHAPTER
Membership in the Tampa Bay Chapter costs only $20
to $25. There are four categories of members: CFE, ACFE Associate,
Chapter Affiliate and Student. For more info, visit our web
site.
ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS or JOB OPPORTUNITY
We have two pages of our web site devoted to
publicizing members' businesses and career opportunities. If you are
interested in advertising with us, visit the pages to see what is
offered and send your copy to TampaCFE@
TampaBayCFE.org. |
white-collar crime: an overview
The phrase "white-collar crime" was coined in 1939 during a
speech given by Edwin Sutherland to the American Sociological
Society. Sutherland defined the term as "crime committed by a
person of respectability and high social status in the course of
his occupation." Although there has been some debate as to what
qualifies as a white-collar crime, the term today generally
encompasses a variety of nonviolent crimes usually committed in
commercial situations for financial gain. Many white-collar
crimes are especially difficult to prosecute because the
perpetrators are sophisticated criminals who have attempted to
conceal their activities through a series of complex
transactions. The most common white-collar offenses include:
antitrust violations,
computer/internet fraud, credit card
fraud, phone/telemarketing fraud,
bankruptcy fraud,
healthcare fraud, environmental law
violations, insurance fraud,
mail fraud, government
fraud, tax evasion,
financial fraud,
securities fraud, insider trading,
bribery, kickbacks,
counterfeiting, public
corruption, money laundering,
embezzlement, economic
espionage, and trade secret theft
(see definitions at bottom). According
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, white-collar crime is
estimated to cost the United States more than $300 billion
annually.
Although white-collar criminal charges are usually brought
against individuals, corporations may also be subject to
sanctions for these types of offenses. The penalties for
white-collar offenses include fines, home detention, community
confinement, costs of prosecution, forfeitures, restitution,
supervised release, and imprisonment. However, sanctions can be
lessened if the defendant takes responsibility for the crime and
assists the authorities in their investigation. Any defenses
available to non-white-collar defendants in criminal court are
also available to those accused of white-collar crimes. A common
refrain of individuals or organizations facing white-collar
criminal charges is the defense of entrapment. For instance, in
United States v. Williams, 705 F.2d 603 (2nd Cir. 1983), one of
the cases arising from "Operation
Abscam," Senator Harrison Williams attempted unsuccessfully
to argue that the government induced him into accepting a bribe.
Both state and federal legislation enumerate the activities
that constitute white-collar criminal offenses. The
Commerce Clause of the
U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the authority
to regulate white-collar crime, and a number of federal agencies
(see sidebar), including the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service,
the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Environmental Protection
Agency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, participate
in the enforcement of federal white-collar crime legislation. In
addition, most states employ their own
agencies to enforce white-collar crime laws at the state
level.
White-Collar Crime Terms (from list
above)
Antitrust Violations: Infractions of
the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1-7) and the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.
12-27) constitute antitrust violations. The goal of antitrust
laws is to shelter trade and commerce from price fixing,
monopolies, etc., and to foster competition.
Bankruptcy Fraud: Committed by
individuals and corporations who conceal and misstate assets,
who mislead creditors, and who illegally pressure bankruptcy
petitioners.
Bribery: The offer of money, goods,
services, information or anything else of value, which is
presented with the intent of influencing the actions, opinions,
or decisions of the taker.
Computer/Internet Fraud: Fraud of this
type includes using or applying for credit cards online under
false names, unauthorized use of a computer, manipulation of a
computer's files, computer sabotage, etc. Violators may be
prosecuted under:
18
U.S.C. 1029, Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with
Access Devices
18
U.S.C. 1030, Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with
Computers
18
U.S.C. 1362, Communication Lines, Stations, or Systems
18
U.S.C. 2511, Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral, or
Electronic Communications Prohibited
18
U.S.C. 2701, Unlawful Access to Stored Communications
18
U.S.C. 2702, Disclosure of Contents
18
U.S.C. 2703, Requirements for Governmental Access
Credit Card Fraud: The unauthorized
use of a credit card to obtain merchandise.
Counterfeiting: Occurs when someone
copies or imitates an item without having been authorized to do
so and passes the copy off for the genuine or original item.
While counterfeiting is most often associated with money it can
also be applied to designer clothing, handbags and watches.
Economic Espionage/Trade Secret Theft:
Economic Espionage involves the theft or misappropriation of
proprietary economic information (trade secret) from an
individual, a business, or an industry.
Embezzlement: When someone who has
been entrusted with money or property appropriates it for their
own use and benefit.
Environmental Law Violations:
Discharge of a toxic substance into the air, water, or soil
which poses a significant threat of harm to people, property, or
the environment, including air pollution, water pollution, and
illegal dumping, in violation of federal environmental law.
Financial Fraud: Financial Institution
Fraud (FIF) involves fraud or embezzlement occurring within or
against financial institutions that are insured or regulated by
the U.S. Government. Financial institutions are threatened by a
wide array of frauds, including commercial loan fraud, check
fraud, counterfeit negotiable instruments, mortgage fraud, check
kiting, false applications, and a variety of traditional and
non-traditional FIF scams.
Government Fraud: Fraud against the
government may consist of fraud in connection with federal
government contracting and fraud in connection with federal
and/or federally-funded entitlement programs, including public
housing, agricultural programs, defense procurement fraud,
educational programs, and corporate frauds. As it relates to
federal government contracting, investigations often involve
bribery in contracts or procurement, collusion among
contractors, false or double billing, false certification of the
quality of parts or of test results, and substitution of bogus
or otherwise inferior parts.
Healthcare Fraud: Types of fraud
include kickbacks, billing for services not rendered, billing
for unnecessary equipment, and billing for services performed by
a lesser qualified person. The health care providers who commit
these fraud schemes encompass all areas of health care,
including hospitals, home health care, ambulance services,
doctors, chiropractors, psychiatric hospitals, laboratories,
pharmacies, and nursing homes.
Insider Trading: According to the
SEC, insider
trading is trading that takes place when those privileged with
confidential information about important events use the special
advantage of that knowledge to reap profits or avoid losses on
the stock market, to the detriment of the source of the
information and to the typical investors who buy or sell their
stock without the advantage of "inside" information.
Insurance Fraud: A variety of
fraudulent activities committed by applicants for insurance,
policyholders, third-party claimants, or professionals who
provide insurance services to claimants. Such fraudulent
activities include inflating or "padding" actual claims and
fraudulent inducements to issue policies and/or establish a
lower premium rate.
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Kickbacks: The return of a certain amount
of money from seller to buyer as a result of a collusive
agreement. Mail Fraud: Mail fraud occurs
when the U.S. Mail is used in furtherance of a criminal act.
Money Laundering: A process or series
of actions through which income of illegal origin is concealed,
disguised or made to appear legitimate to evade detection,
prosecution, seizure and taxation. Illicit proceeds must be
laundered to make it appear as though the funds were generated
through some legitimate means. This allows criminals to enjoy
the "fruits" of their criminal activity without raising
suspicion.
Public Corruption: Public corruption
involves a breach of public trust and/or abuse of position by
federal, state, or local officials and their private sector
accomplices. By broad definition, a government official, whether
elected, appointed or hired, may violate federal law when he/she
asks, demands, solicits, accepts, or agrees to receive anything
of value in return for being influenced in the performance of
their official duties.
Securities Fraud: Includes theft from
manipulation of the market, theft from securities accounts, and
wire fraud.
Tax Evasion: Fraud committed by filing
false tax returns, or not filing tax returns at all.
Telemarketing Fraud: According to the
U.S. Department of Justice,
telemarketing fraud is any scheme to defraud in which the
perpetrators use the telephone as the primary means of
communicating with the potential victims of the scheme. Typical
fraudulent telemarketers use multiple aliases, telephone
numbers, and locations. They frequently change their product
line, sales pitch, and recently many have moved their operations
to Canada in response to effective U.S. law enforcement efforts.
Source:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/white_collar.html |
Chapter News
Ellen
Wilcox Received the ACFE's Distinguished Achievement Award
 Special
Agent, Ellen Wilcox, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, was
caught off guard at our last dinner meeting. Wayne Boytim nominated
Ellen for the ACFE's Distinguished Achievement Award and their Board
of Director's bestowed that honor upon her. Chapter President, Penny
Borjas presented Ellen with the award. Ellen earned the recognition
and our gratitude for her dedication, outstanding level of service
and the many contributions she makes to the Tampa Bay Chapter every
year. Ellen has served on the Board of Directors for a number of
years and was the chapter's President in 2001-2001. Ellen has been
instrumental to the success of our Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminars.
We all congratulate Ellen. The award is well deserved.
Local Chapter Members Obtain
Their CFE Certifications
Tampa Bay Chapter Associates, Eugene Mickel,
Law Enforcement Lieutenant, Florida Attorney General, Donna
Swinconos, Vice President, Bank of America and Carroll Perine,
Retired, recently passed the Certified Fraud Examiner exam.
Congratulations to all of you. |
Dinner Meeting News
|
 February
8th Dinner Meeting
Our next dinner meeting is scheduled for February 8, 2005. Our
speaker for the evening is Richard Lawson, State Attorney's Office,
Hillsborough County. His topic is White Collar or Economic Crime.
Mr. Lawson's biography and topic summary will be distributed via
email as soon as it is received.
The dinner meeting will be held at the Park Plaza Tampa Airport
Westshore, located at 5303 West Kennedy Blvd., 11th Floor. The hotel
is just west of Westshore Plaza on the north side of Kennedy Blvd. Evenings will begin with a social at 6:00 P.M.,
followed by a buffet dinner at 6:30 and a presentation at 7:00. The
cost remains only $15.
To make your reservation, please use the following link Chapter
Meeting Reservation and complete the form at the bottom of
the page. You can also make your reservation by emailing Wayne
Boytim or calling him at (813) 274-7167 by the Friday before the
meeting date. Reservations will be accepted after that date and
walk-ups are always welcome. Please remember that cancellations are
accepted up to the afternoon of the meeting. No shows will be billed
after the second missed meeting. Please help us keep our costs down
by letting us know if you are unable to attend.
 January
11th Dinner Meeting
Ms. Walker began her presentation with a brief
biographical sketch of herself. She noted that she was from North
Carolina, and attended Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC prior
to her employment with the Postal Service in 1990.
While working for the Postal Inspection
Service, she held a variety of positions, the most recent of which
was the unit’s Public Information Officer.
The Postal Inspection Service holds the distinction of being the
oldest federal agency in the United States. It was founded in
1772 under the direction of Ben Franklin. While, the unit has
evolved and grown to 1900 inspectors nation-wide, its mission
has remained fairly constant - “…to protect the US Postal
Service, its employees and customers from criminal attack, and
protect the nation’s mail system from criminal
misuse.”
Typical investigations handled by Postal
Inspectors include: robberies and burglaries of postal facilities
and its employees, mail theft, identity theft, workmen’s comp fraud
matters, mail fraud and diversions of postal revenue.
The statutory basis for those investigations
stem from an 1872 law known as Mail Fraud.
While the Postal Inspection Service has wide
discretion into which matters it looks into, the focus for 2005
remains on investigating and prosecuting fraud against consumers.
Ms. Walker noted that historically the agency
focused on US Mail, but in 1984 their authority was broadened to
include all couriers. That now includes private companies such as
UPS and FedEx. The statute for that change is Title 18, Section
1341.
Florida is a rich target for con artists. Ms.
Walker described various scams targeting senior citizens and how
they worked. ’Mooch lists’ or target listings were described as
well as scams associated with: Government look-alike mail, yellow
pages ad bills, sweepstakes, and work-at-home scams. She cautioned
that not all of the aforementioned were scams, but that many people
are duped by not reading the fine print or fully understanding the
nature of the transaction.
As such, her agency receives 60-80 thousand
complaints a year. The complaints are centralized in Chicago and
trending done by a USPS unit. Recurring matters are investigated as
resource limitations make investigating them all impossible.
Basically, the Service goes after the ’best bang for the buck‘.
Ms. Walker noted that chain letters continue to
be prevalent. Those soliciting for cash are illegal. Also
problematic for the agency are foreign lotteries. ‘El Gordo’, from
Spain continues to circulate as well as lotteries originating in
Canada - all illegally sent through the US Mail.
Other scams include: counterfeit personal money
orders, investment scams, Nigerian and look-alike scams, and others.
Ms. Walker noted that in many of these cases
there has been a marked shift from the mail to internet venues.
Jurisdictional issues have resulted which are now being addressed.
Ms. Walker went on to relate some tips on
handling phone fraud. Those included never releasing personal
information such as bank account numbers. Hang up if an immediate
decision is necessary and always be on the lookout for phishing.
Charity scams, such as for the tsunami, are now
prevalent.
Tired of ’junk mail’? You can request your
address be removed from a marketing database by writing:
Mail Preference Service
Post Office Box 9008
Farmingdale, New York 11735
Your order is in effect for 5 years, but as
time goes on some slippage may occur, with new merchants acquiring
your address through other means.
Same goes for telephone solicitations, by
writing:
Telephone Preference Service
Post Office Box 9014
Farmingdale, New York 11735
- Some final advice was given regarding the
prevention of, or mitigation of, identity theft:
- Examine your three credit
bureau reports every year;
- Check for inquiries made
against your credit;
- Close inactive accounts;
- Check that your Social Security
number hasn’t been compromised to another individual.
With that said Ms. Walker
concluded her remarks and passed out various booklets on the Service
and identity theft.Submitted by: Roland Rodriguez,
Chapter Secretary |
2005-2006
Ritchie-Jennings Memorial Scholarship
Through the Ritchie-Jennings Memorial Scholarship Program, the
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners supports the education of
collegiate accounting and criminal justice students, around the
globe, who may become Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) in the
future.
This scholarship program was named after two members of the ACFE,
Larry Jennings, 49 and Tracy Ritchie, 41, both of Houston, Texas,
who were among five people fatally wounded when unknown assailants
in Karachi, Pakistan fired upon their vehicle on November 14, 1997.
All five people killed were employees of Houston-based Union Texas
Petroleum Holdings, Inc. The vehicle was in route to Union Texas'
Karachi office.
Scholarships of $1,000 each and a one-year ACFE Student Associate
membership are awarded annually on the basis of...
- Overall academic achievement demonstrated by official
transcripts
- Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a
Certified Fraud Examiner or a local CFE Chapter, plus additional
recommendations from employer, faculty members or academic
advisors. (For students outside the North American region, a
letter from a professor in your major discipline may substitute
the CFE letter if a student is unable to make contact with a CFE
or an ACFE chapter.)
- An original essay of no more than 500 words, explaining why
the applicant deserves the scholarship and how the awareness of
fraud will affect his or her professional career development.
Eligible undergraduate and graduate applicants must be currently
enrolled full-time and taking at least 12 semester hours, or
equivalent, per term at an accredited four-year college or
university with a declared major in accounting or criminal justice.
Junior college, community college and high school students –
including graduating seniors – are not eligible to apply.
A completed scholarship application package must include all of
the following items:
- A completed application form
- A copy of official transcript (or transcripts), showing all
completed college or university courses
- Three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a
Certified Fraud Examiner or a local ACFE Chapter (required for
U.S. and Canadian citizens only), plus additional recommendations
from advisors or faculty members, or employers
- An original essay between 250- 500 words explaining why the
applicant deserves the scholarship and how fraud awareness will
affect his or her professional career development
If Spring 2005 grades are not available in time to make the
deadline, grades through Fall 2004 and proof of Spring 2005
enrollment is acceptable. The deadline for having all components of
the application packet received by the ACFE is May 13, 2005.
This deadline is non-negotiable and will be strictly enforced for
all applicants. The awards will be announced August 01, 2005 and
awarded by the end of August 2005.
If possible, mail all scholarship components together in one
package. It is also the responsibility of the applicant to ensure
that all required components of the application package are received
by the ACFE by the deadline.
Students who wish to apply for a scholarship but who are not
acquainted with a Certified Fraud Examiner should contact Wayne
Boytim at
Training@TampaBayCFE.org. It is the responsibility of the applicant to meet with an
ACFE Chapter or with a Certified Fraud Examiner in person if
possible or by phone if necessary to receive a recommendation.
Questions should be addressed to:
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Attn: Tony Rolston
Scholarships Program Coordinator
The Gregor Building
716 West Avenue
Austin , TX 78701-2727
USA
(800) 245-3321
+1 (512) 478-9000
+1 (512) 478-9297 (Fax)
scholarships@cfenet.com |
White-Collar Crime/Corporate Crime: Correlative Features
- White-collar crime tends to be made up of complex, sophisticated,
and relatively technical actions.
- White-collar crime tends to be intermingled with legitimate
behavior
- Victimization tends to be diffuse. Harm is not always
conceptualized or identifiable as such because it is usually spread
out over a substantial number of victims.
- The monetary sums that are involved tend to be quite large. i.e.
Michael Milken
- White-collar criminals steal by manipulating symbols rather
than objects
- White collar crime occurs extends over time
- White-collar crime is rarely prosecuted and rarely convicted.
Penalties are light.
- With respect to perception and prosecution, evidence indicating
that they have taken place is not as clear-cut as with street crime.
- Limited media coverage
- Coroporate criminals are not heavily stigmatized: they don't
acquire "criminal identities."
- Relative to their incidence, arrests are very rarely made
Source:
http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/200/wcolcrim.html |
White-Collar Crime In The News
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A Message from our President
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What a great turnout to our January dinner meeting. Thank you to
everyone who attended. Linda Walker was fantastic. She knows her
stuff when it comes to mail fraud. Our next meeting will be on
February 8th. I hope all of you can join us. You never know, you
might be the next big winner of a CFE mouse pad!! Penny Borjas |
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