CFE Exam Quiz 44

The dos for choosing members of the team include:
-Consider the size of the team
-Check those inner and external team members have conflicts of interest
-Make sure there are no reporting problems
-Select team members that suit the requirements and goals of the investigation
-Recruit team members with the necessary abilities to carry out the inquiry
-Recognize the distinctive expertise, experience, and abilities that can be contributed by each team member
-Consider how each prospective member will fit into the team
-Choose individuals who work well with other members of the team

In some instances, a person with comprehensive industry expertise may need to be included. Industry experts can assist in developing the inquiry plan, assessing technical records, and identifying prospective mistakes by interviewees.

A leader should have research experience and an understanding of legal demands and compliance with the particular problems concerned. The investigative leader should be determined on the basis of the allegation’s seriousness. Management should consider whether to appoint an inner-party to lead and supervise the inquiry or an external third party.
The leader should be autonomous of the activity impacted by the supposed fraud and have the means to hire the required funds to perform the inquiry, adequate power, and access to collect all needed data, and the capacity to interact with senior management.

Each team member should participate in the scheduling phase. Letting each team member contribute to the planning process improves the probability that the plan will be accepted by everyone and outcomes in a team strategy based on the knowledge of each member. Planning is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing process that requires constant attention, and as the facts and needs of the client change, the team has to refine their plan.

when developing an investigation plan, the members should:
-Review what is known and acquire a fundamental knowledge of important problems.
-Define the goals of the investigation.
-Identify who should be kept informed.
-Determine the investigation’s scope.
-Establish the timeframe of the investigation.
-Address the need for help in law enforcement.
-Defining the roles of employees and assigning duties.
-Address operational problems.
-Specify the course of action.
-Adapt the resources needed to carry out an inquiry so that the team can focus on what’s important.
-Prepare the research organization.

Most investigations of fraud are to determine if fraud has happened. Moreover, they also prevent additional loss or risk exposure, determine whether a continuing behavior of interest exists, establish and secure the required proof for criminal or disciplinary action, reduce and retrieve losses, review the reasons for the incident, investigate steps taken to avoid recurrence and identify any actions necessary to reinforce future reactions to fraud, help encourage a culture of anti-fraud by making it clear to staff and others that management is vigorously pursuing all instances and taking suitable legal or disciplinary action where justified, and protect the legal rights of the business.

When planning the inquiry, the team must set appropriate time parameters with starting dates and due dates for assignments and outcomes. A defined time frame enables the team to provide a fast and suitable reaction to assist the subject organization to prevent future legal conflicts and minimize adverse effects on the morale of the worker.

During the scheduling phase, the authority levels, duties for action and reporting lines of the team should be described. All team members need to be clear about their roles and responsibilities and the goals of the investigation for effective and effective coordination. Identifying the roles and duties of employees provides them with the purpose and checkpoints to measure achievement.

International data protection legislation is of specific concern. Many overseas countries, particularly those in the European Union (EU), restrict or ban the processing and transfer of private information. Other countries’ data protection regulations can have a major impact on information collection, information use, and cross-border transfer

The inquiry team should create a case plan before starting a fraud examination to ensure that it addresses every appropriate problem. The course of action that team members expect to take throughout the inquiry is outlined in a case plan, and creating a case plan helps the team remain on track and concentrate on important problems.

This strategy organizes investigations into functional areas required to fulfill the objectives of the investigation. This strategy, therefore, focuses on the sort of operations and procedures to be performed within each functional region.

The inquiry team members should guard case data in order to help maintain confidentiality. Recommended processes to protect case data are as follows:
-Store in closed file cabinets or rooms all confidential records accessible only to those who need to understand.
-Use firewalls, encryption, and passwords to protect all electronic data.
-Before leaving, clear desks of any case data.
-When you leave workstations, lock PCs.
-Mark as confidential any case information, whether tangible or electronic.
-Avoid speaking in public or wherever other staff could hear the communications about the inquiry.
-For the transmission of confidential case information, avoid using email or other electronic means (e.g. text messages or instant messages).

Here are a few general rules for document collection:
-Where feasible, obtain initial records. For review, make working copies and maintain the originals segregated.
-Do not touch originals more than needed; they may need to be analyzed forensically later.
-Maintain a reliable document filing system.

Two basic types of evidence are available: direct and circumstantial. The facts at the problem are shown prima facie (based on the first impression) by direct evidence; it directly demonstrates the facts.
Circumstantial evidence is proof that tends to indirectly, by inference, demonstrate or disprove facts in question.

Establish a database early in the inquiry and code all records when there is much data to be processed. This database can be manual or computerized and can be obtained by numbering keywords or Bates stamps. The coding system should provide meaningful and comparable data; therefore, at a minimum, the database should include the following information fields: the date of the document, the person from whom the document was obtained, the date it was obtained, a brief description, and the subject matter to which it relates.

-Mark evidence with the date and initials of the person obtaining it.
-Should be marked and sealed in an acid-free envelope.
-Do not write on the envelope after inside the document.
-Do not fold, use videos of paper, or crumple the original.
-When initializing a document for future detection, use an instrument other than the one used on the paper.

The custody chain is both a process and a document that memorizes who and what they did with an object. The custody chain is a record-keeping operation comparable to physical inventory processes. From the moment evidence is obtained, the tribunal must maintain its chain of custody so that it can be approved. For the chain of custody to be established, fraud examiners must record when they receive an item or leave their care, custody, or control.

By using a sturdy crush-proof container in which they place layers of cotton, fraud examiners can best maintain such proof for submission to a forensic specialist. They should slip a sheet of paper or thin cardboard under the burned pieces closely, lift them, place them on the cotton strands, and then remove the lifting paper. Then, until the container is filled, they should carefully place additional layers of cotton over the fragments. The fraud examiner should then seal the container, test and date it, add a label or display number identifying the contents, and obviously write or stamp the term fragile on the container.

Substituted pages can often be found in multiple-page papers, such as agreements and wills, by keeping each page before a bright light. Differences in the patterns of the substituted sheets in whiteness, density, thickness, opacity, and paper fiber may be evident.

Distortions are unintentional changes in the writings of a person that go beyond the natural variation range. Distortion can be triggered by temporary disease, hand or arm injury, drug abuse, severe physical weakness, extraordinary writing environment, uneven or unusual writing surface, or unfamiliar writing material. As a result of the advanced era and cognitive decrease, distortions can also be permanent.

No one writes twice precisely the same signature. If two signatures look precisely the same, the attempt by keeping them in front of bright light to superimpose the signature regions of the two papers. If they match, then forgeries are probable to be traced to one or both.

There are three fundamental results of comparisons of forensic handwriting: nin-identification, identification and inconclusive.

Experts use two types of writing standards for comparison reasons: non-dictated writing and dictated writing. Non-dictated writing samples include materials written during the daily course of the company by the person. Dictated writing samples are the samples published on the fraud examiner’s request and generally in the presence.

A photocopy is a copy of a text or other graphic picture on paper. Photocopies may be the only evidence of a document unless the original can be located or unreleased in some cases. Sometimes fraud examiners and other researchers send a copy of a document for examination to a document examiner because they do not want to part with the original.

Backdating is a method whereby, for deception purposes, an individual posts a date on a document sooner than the real date of development of the document. Sometimes, during fraud investigations, the issue occurs as to whether a document is real or a backdated fabrication. Forensic experts can use a range of methods by examining suspicious records to answer this sort of issue. The fraud examiner should be alert
for these types of analyses, have some knowledge of what can be done with these methods, and understand their limitations.

Two basic types of fingerprints are available: latent and patent. Latent (invisible) prints are distinctive personal identifiers, and the body oils, salts, and amino acids that cling to or exude friction ridges in the skin on the fingers, palms of the hands, and sole of the feet leave these prints on surfaces. The human eye can see patent (visible) prints. By transferring materials such as blood, paint, soot, and soil, they are sometimes placed on surfaces by hands, fingers, and bare feet.

If multiple individuals handled an item of proof, it could still bear the latent prints of the guilty party. In such cases, everybody who might have handled the item should get the inked prints from the fraud examiner.

Graphology (graphoanalysis) was defined as a pseudoscience whose practitioners are supposed to be able to determine the character, moral characteristics, personality and mental state of a person based on an assessment of the handwriting of that person. Fraud examiners should be conscious that there may be little educational and scientific training for some individuals who practice graphological analysis. Because a definitive standard of precision for graphology examinations has not been developed, courts and comparable administrative bodies often dismiss graphologists’ expert testimony.

Using deception to obtain information can sometimes be used legally, but before participating in such activity, fraud examiners should check with advice on relevant legislation and regulations. In cases where deception is legal, the theory is that with the exception of force or threats, information can be obtained by almost any means.

Expression, persuasion, therapy, ritual, and exchange of data are some prevalent kinds of communication.