Colin May, CFE
Career opportunities in gaming enforcement and investigation
Gambling is an attractive entertainment option for some, but it can also be a hotbed for money laundering, organized crime and other illicit activity. That means, of course, job opportunities for CFEs in a growing field. Can CFEs help deter bad actors from defrauding gaming operations?
Written By: Colin May, CFE
How to write 'right'
Writing skills are essential in this profession. The most successful fraud examiners, investigators, attorneys and business people are those who can write clearly, articulately and persuasively using facts they’ve uncovered in the course of the fraud examination.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Should you start an ACFE student chapter?
As a former student member of the ACFE, I can’t think of a better way for budding fraud examiners to explore the profession than as members of university ACFE student chapters. They not only learn valuable anti-fraud skills, but they meet professionals and make contacts that can lead to internships and jobs.
Written By: A. Blair Staley, Colin May, CFE
The chief was a thief
What tears at the fabric of a small town? Theft, betrayal and a loss of confidence in the very institutions that make the town a great place to live. This is the story of how a small gap became a gaping hole in oversight, management and internal controls, which resulted in a theft of more than $250,000.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
The big four
In this column, we hear from a seasoned fraud fighter and educator who has some excellent advice on skill building for new CFEs and students. You can discover how to develop these essential core traits through a mentor relationship or by observing those professionals you admire.
Written By: L. Christopher Knight, CFE, CPA, Colin May, CFE
Brought down by upcoding
For years William King ran a successful medical practice, but when his patients left his office, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, doctor had a practice of a different sort — a medical billing scheme known as upcoding. Fraud Magazine examines how King perpetrated a years’ long upcoding scheme that defrauded an insurance company of hundreds of thousands of dollars and details how fraud examiners can detect similar schemes.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
‘A wink and a nod’ can’t rename high-tech government bribes
Raushi Conrad was a longtime, well-liked U.S. federal government high-tech specialist. He bucked the stereotype of the aloof, arrogant IT worker. But an anonymous email led to an investigation that showed he’d committed a one-man $1 million internal fraud scheme that involved chicken restaurants, computer viruses and “wink-and-a-nod” briberies. Here’s how to fend off similar high-tech crimes.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
End of the trail
Between 1998 and February 2009, accountant James T. Hammes embezzled more than $8.7 million from his employer, G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Inc. He was indicted shortly thereafter on 75 counts — including 38 for wire fraud and 36 for money laundering — but wasn’t arrested until May 16, 2015. Why did it take so long to arrest Hammes? After the FBI had questioned him in 2009 about the theft, he left his family and life, and began hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT).
Written By: Colin May, CFE, Scott Morantz, CPA
When the music stopped ...
In this column, the author recounts the case of the president of a small bank who stole funds through a complex loan fraud scheme.
Written By: Caitlin Glass, CFE, CPA, Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Preventing Fraud In Troubled Companies
In this column, Robert L. Bates, CFE, CPA highlights some of the various fraud risks that can occur and the red flags that indicate a fraud in progress.
Written By: Robert L. Bates, CFE, CPA, Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Protecting the Sentinels Blowing the Whistle: A Historical Perspective
A historical rundown of prominent whistleblowers and the cases that made them famous as well as the laws in place that help to protect them
Written By: Karol Romanowicz, Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Elder Abuse: Protecting a Vulnerable Population from Fraud and Theft
With an aging population worldwide, soaring health care costs and people outliving their financial foundations, fraudsters increasingly are taking advantage of the elderly and aging.
Written By: Samantha Dillhoff, Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Anatomy Of A Bank Fraud
Bank fraud involves the use of fraudulent means to obtain something of value from a financial institution. There are numerous types of bank fraud including identity theft, account takeover, loan fraud, wire transfer fraud, and check fraud.
Written By: Rachel Vamos, Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Procurement Fraud: Acquisition fraudster lessons learned from Darleen Druyun
Contract and procurement fraud can be especially enticing to those seeking to line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers and military personnel. Here are some lessons we can learn from the crimes of the "Dragon Lady."
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Admission-Seeking Interviews
Admission-seeking interviews, in which a professional interviews a subject whose involvement in fraud or theft has been established, are the most critical and challenging tasks for a fraud examiner.
Written By: Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA, Robert Hogan, CFE, Colin May, CFE
Web of Lies: Unraveling Defenses of Unverified Affluence
Dismantling a "web of lies" can strain even the most experienced investigators, but it is an important skill that new and budding fraud examiners should begin to master.
Written By: Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Helping Communities Identify Red Flags
This column explores the red flags that we, as new and budding fraud examiners (and veterans), can teach our families, friends, coworkers, employees, managers and communities to look for when they engage in business and social dealings.
Written By: Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Fighting fraudsters who target homeless in scams
University student Kevin Wendolowski discusses a growing trend of schemes designed to target a vulnerable and transient population: the homeless.
Written By: Kevin Wendolowski, Colin May, CFE
Career-forming annual conference
Student associate members share their ACFE Global Fraud Conference experiences.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Victim and pursuer
In this column, Chloe Pickering, a recent graduate from the U.K., describes her story — first as a victim and then as an aspiring fraud examiner.
Written By: Chloe Pickering, Colin May, CFE
Taking the Store: A Loss Prevention Perspective
In this column, Christopher Shell, an internal auditor, describes his experiences in the loss prevention area. He shows that inventory misappropriation in the retail industry is a difficult and challenging fraud environment to investigate and recommends loss prevention as an excellent way for college students to gain real-world experience dealing with fraud prevention and detection.
Written By: Colin May, CFE, Mark F. Zimbelman, Ph.D., CPA
Shells, shams & public shenanigans
Shell companies have no physical presence or actual business operations, but are paper corporations that have only one purpose: to facilitate one or more transactions and then eventually dissolve. We explore how corrupt politicians and civil servants misuse shell entities to steal taxpayer funds.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Uncle Sam wants you (for a fraud examiner job)
Are you looking for that next job opportunity? The U.S. federal government has scores of employment possibilities for fraud examiners on USAJobs.gov. In this and the next two columns, I discuss the three position classification categories that most often contain fraud examination responsibilities and opportunities
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Recognizing rationalization
The case of “Judy” is an important study in the application of the Fraud Triangle and several other fraud examination tenets. We know the Fraud Triangle by its three sides: pressure, opportunity and rationalization.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Four career questions
Before you begin your résumé and draft cover letters, you need to do a self-assessment and ask yourself four questions. Your honest answers will help you move into the next phase of your job hunt. (These questions are also important for new CFEs and those looking to change careers.)
Written By: Colin May, CFE
U.S. federal jobs, part 2
Here we’ll cover the broadest series of jobs within the government that encompass the management and program analysis — job series 0343.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Educating a New Generation of Fraud Fighters
In the next several years, as baby boomers begin retiring, employment experts see a problem: many openings and few qualified applicants. This is such a significant challenge for the U.S. federal government that the Department of Homeland Security, with the assistance of the Office of Personnel Management, is changing the way this newest federal agency hires people. There's an answer to this perplexing problem -- interns!
Written By: Colin May, CFE
Gifts of mentoring
Most of us know it’s more “blessed to give than receive,” but hectic work and family schedules (and pesky pandemic problems) can keep us from imparting our knowledge. But don’t let lofty assumptions of mentorship keep you from the joy of giving newish fraud examiners the career boosts they need. Here are practical ways to get started.
Written By: Colin May, CFE
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