Chapter 3
Getting to Know the Most Common Fraud Schemes
In This Chapter
Examining frauds committed by businesses against the public
Recognizing frauds committed against businesses
Focusing on frauds against the government
Getting acquainted with the Ponzi scheme
We are all affected by fraud, whether directly or indirectly. Even if you haven’t been a victim of fraud, you pay for it. Think about it: Does your credit card company really need to charge you 24 percent interest and all those big fees? It does so to make up for all the costs associated with phony credit cards, stolen credit cards, and customers who just don’t pay because they just don’t pay.
In this chapter, we introduce some of the most common types of fraud committed by businesses, against businesses, and against the government. Our goal here isn’t to give you all the details about every type of fraud imaginable; we’d need a much bigger book to accomplish that task. Instead, we want to simply get you thinking about what fraud often looks like so you have a sense of the scope of work a forensic accountant may encounter. ...
