Fraud Examiners are Using Social Media to Gather Information

Forbes’s Walter Pavlo, who dedicates his column to white collar-crime, has an eye-opening piece on how fraud examiners are using social media to gather information on targets.  The column centers on a meeting in Las Vegas of the Association of Fraud Examiners.

The article makes the point that frequently people enjoy bragging about their interests on social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.  Investigators are able to observe what individuals are claiming on social media and reconcile that same information with the target’s apparent means.  As the piece observes, “Bill in Accounting”, ‘who makes $100K/year is tweeting about his new Ferrari.”  Obviously, a red flag.

The four key areas for consideration related to the performance of an online investigation include:

·         finding out where people are claiming to spend their time;

·         assess a person’s “Likes” and “Dislikes”;

·         look for clues to determine other social media sites the target is visiting; and

·         see who people are following and being followed by and look for conflicts of interest.

Pavlo’s piece underscores the double-edged nature of the transparency social media brings with it.  As a society we might appreciate the effective way investigators utilize tools to bring potential wrongdoers to justice, as individuals it may make us inclined to look over our shoulders to see who is peering and wonder what their motivation is.

You can read the full article at   http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2013/06/25/criminals-beware-fraud-investigators-take-to-social-media/.