WHY YOU NEED TO BE FRAUD AND SCAM PROOF MORE THAN EVER
The Arcis Fraud Discovery & Exposure Centre publishes a monthly newsletter: The Informant, for those who take fraud serious and are looking to better protect themselves against frauds and scams. The newsletter deals with such subjects as understanding specific, recognizing the signs, fraud prevention and detection strategies and tools, specific scams and frauds, brought in a professional yet entertaining way.
The Informant retails at US$ 39 per issue and US$390 for a year subscription. We are currently offering a discount on a yearly subscription. For a limited time we have a special discount offer:
Year subscription (12 issues plus a free copy of the pre-lauch issue)
Free copy (pdf) of the Special Report: "Understanding Fraud and Fraudsters": a fifty page introduction to Fraud Prevention and Detection.
Free weekly email with new on fraud, tip , tools and more.
Access to our subscriber only network, where you can post your questions and network with other businesses and individuals.
A few advance readers of this letter thought I had gone nuts.
“How in the world can you suggest that we look into beefing up our fraud protection in these times,when we have trouble enough safeguarding our bottom-line? Have you missed the news lately? We are in a state of severe economic crisis.”
No I have not been missing the news, in fact, the news is how this all came about!
Fraud, scams and economic down times
Experience has taught that during economic crisis, incidences of fraud go up substantially and in some instances even skyrocket. How do I know this? Come and visit my office and you will know why. There are more inquiries than ever. And colleagues report similar experiences. Or call your insurance agent and ask if he or she notices a difference in terms of potentially inflated claims. Where financial pressures and anxieties rise, more people are willing to take a chance with unethical or even illegal means and more people are simply more vulnerable to scams andfrauds that are presented as opportunities that seem too good to let them pass by.
Businesses and individuals who are prepared and informed can substantially lower their chances of getting ripped off while focusing on the many opportunities that come with deflating asset prices. At the same time however,you run a higher than ever risk that a substantial part of the opportunities that seem too good to be true actually are. Businesses with employees need to consider that there is a higher chance that some, led by anxieties and pressures, may be willing to take their chances when it comes to putting their hands on your hard earned assets.
Fraudsters are masters at sniffing out human and organizational weaknesses. They prey on human emotions such as greed and fear, which are at a high level at times of uncertainty and stress. Others, faced with immediate perceived needs, are more willing to take their chances within your organization and use control weaknesses to misappropriate or steal your hard earned assets from right under your nose. The fear of financial loss is far stronger than the desire for financial gain.
As financial markets melt down, the fear of loss of assets,bankruptcy, foreclosure, loss of jobs, and the associated loss of living standard and status reaches epidemic levels, and places ordinarily rational and intelligent people into heightened states ofanxiety. With it comes a potential lowering of their guard in a mental and ethical sense.
Fraud and scams are very much a psychological game; and those rip-off artists who are really good at it have skills that are at times almost hypnotic. Their message will be tailored to alleviate the victim’s feeling of worry and fear in the form of some kind of“financial opportunity” or use it to circumvent controls. Others, less talented in this area, will find ways to get their hands on your assets utilizing your control and security weaknesses. A person who is full of worry and anxiety has a mindset that is very open to suggestive influences,irrational, unethical and ultimately illegal decision making.
This applies to scammers, fraudsters, stealing employees as well as victims.
Scammers are masters of the game when it comes to pushing the right emotional buttons on a person who is fearful and highly open to suggestion. Desperate or anxious employees need less internal rationalization if your organization is offering the opportunity for illegal benefits. The conscience, which tells them the difference between right and wrong, has been numbed and disarmed, because through their self-talk, they have justified to their subconscious that what they are doing is serving a positive purpose of some kind to themselves(but not to their intended victim). Fraudsters and scammers are master story tellers and actually need to fall for their own web of lies and deceit.
No matter how intelligent or well-educated you are; an expert fraudster will sniff out your weaknesses and anxieties and those ofyour organization: just like an expert cracker or script kid discovers the hidden back doors to a sophisticated computer system and enters undetected to inflict severe damage. In fact, many of our(investigation and litigation support) clients are sophisticated and intelligent people who thought they were “too smart” to become a victim of fraud, but got ripped off nonetheless. Even fraud risk professionals are not immune, myself included. Yes, I have fallen for it once and so did several of my colleagues worldwide.
You Need to Protect Yourself: more than ever
Especially in times like these, you need good protection. Just like you need anti-virus software to protect yourself from computer viruses and a firewall to prevent unwanted intrusions and outbound traffic, you need a protection against fraud and fraudsters. At the same time however you need to be more cost-conscious than ever to protect that bottom line. The ARCIS Fraud Discovery & Exposure Centre is established specifically with that in mind.
The Informant
The ARCIS FDEC publishes a monthly newsletter, “The Informant”,designed to give you the tools you need to protect yourself. You will also be alerted of the latest scams so that you can be ready when a fraudster comes-a-knocking. The Informant is designed to build itself into a Fraud and Scam Protection/ RiskManagement / Loss PreventionHandbook, which you can compile monthly in a 3-ring binder. It will serve as an ever expanding reference tool that you can refer to frequently.
The Informant retails for US$39 per month, but if you pay in full for a year, you can get it for just US$390 for a full year. BUT FOR A LIMITED TIME WE ARE OFFERING THE COMPLETE INFORMANT PACKAGE FOR US$250 PER YEAR. READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE OR TRY A SAMPLE COPY HERE >>>
TESTIMONIAL MICHAEL TAPLIN (NZ)
John and I met on ecademy and we have now formed a real alliance because
we have identified a great deal of synergy about the way we think and
the way we do business. His expertise in his field of business system
risk management and fraud investigation is outstanding. His commitment
to training business owners in how to recognise and protect themselves
from fraud in its many forms is the reason he has joined bizlearn.biz as a contributor and will be offering his insight online to our members.
I recommend you subscribe to his newsletter at www.arcisfdec.com because it is the best thing I have read recently on this topic."
TESTIMONIAL ED BARAN (US) "... Dude, I never knew my business could be so susceptible to problems and was so exposed to fraud and other malicious threats. What I like about your newsletter is that it shows me where my business weaknesses could be, how to identify them and how to stop them. You've got something unique here because I've never seen or heard of any newsletter of this sort that explains what the risks are, both internal and external, and what to do like this does. Nice job. Looking forward to more issues.
Most of us invest most of our time and thoughts on how better serve our customers with improved offerings. As a result we sometimes
forget, or actively choose to ignore, that there are many who invest just as much time in their craft of separating us from what we worked
so hard for. Reading the Informant has not made me more paranoid or distrust everyone but myself, it has however, through it's thought
provoking, insightful and a pleasure to read writing, sharpened my awareness. This alone is worth the subscription as I no longer project
to the professional hustler that I'm an easy mark. If they really want to rip me off, they're going to have invest a lot more time than
they'll ever get out of me. Even crooks perform cost-benefit analysis.
R.M. in Tokyo
LIMITED TIME SPECIAL OFFER: US$250
As a promotion we are currently offering a discount on a yearly subscription. For a limited time we have a special (pre) launch discount offer:
* Year subscription (12 issues plus a free copy of the pre-lauch issue)
* Free copy (pdf) of the Special Report: "Understanding Fraud and Fraudsters": a 50 page introduction to Fraud Prevention and Detection.
* Free weekly email with new on fraud, tip , tools and more.
* Access to our subscriber only network, where you can post your questions and concerns and discuss those publicly or privately with one of out experts or other
members.
The Informant itself will be delivered by postal mail every month.
Value for money
Just one tip or idea or bit of information can pay for the entire year’s subscription many times over if it prevents you from one scam or just one internal fraud or theft. Ask a quote from a fraud risk specialist, the $39 would not pay for half an hour of his or her time. Most of all, an informed individual or business does not necessarily need expensive advice: a lot of things you can do yourself.
We believe that prevention and early detection are your most important tools against fraud. Fraud resilience starts with being informed and aware. And where things do go wrong we are there to either assist ourselves or hook you up with a professional we know we can trust.
TIME LIMITED OFFER
Sign up now and you will receive the yearly subscription not for US$390, but for US$250 for the first year. This is a limited time offer only.
Year subscription (12 issues plus a free copy of the pre-lauch issue)
Free copy (pdf) of the Special Report: "Understanding Fraud and Fraudsters": a 50 page introduction to Fraud Prevention and Detection.
Free weekly email with new on fraud, tip , tools and more.
Access to our subscriber only network, where you can post your questions and network with other businesses and individuals.
Brad,
"... Dude, I never knew my business could be so susceptible to problems and was so exposed to fraud and other malicious threats. What I like about your newsletter is that it shows me where my business weaknesses could be, how to identify them and how to stop them. You've got something unique here because I've never seen or heard of any newsletter of this sort that explains what the risks are, both internal and external, and what to do like this does. Nice job. Looking forward to more issues.