Safe Online Shopping Recommendations

 

Over the years, it has become impossible to imagine a world in which one cannot buy on the internet. In fact, roughly 85 percent of consumers across the globe have shopped for items on the web. Around 11 million Americans will make purchases online until the end of this year. However, there are many more people interested in purchasing products through electronic commerce, but they seek to do so in the safest and most satisfactory way possible.

In an interview , Dee Studler, a forensic accounting specialist from the Studler Doyle global investigation and forensic accounting firm,  provided some recommendations for those who wish to buy with confidence and security online.

"The first thing we recommend is the preparation of a list of products that they want to buy and based on this the search begins," she said.

The Studler Doyle co-founder indicated that, after this preliminary suggestion, the following advice should be taken into account:

- Verify that the page has a digital security certificate: observe that in the upper left part of the screen there is a small padlock next to the text: 'It is safe'. Also, note that the URL address starts at https: // www ..., in which the letter 's' is important, as it indicates that the website uses a security certificate.

- Use a secure connection: to enter personal data and finalize an online purchase, it is important to use a secure and private internet connection from work or home. The public wi-fi networks, of a shopping center or a cafe, can be used without problems to search for offers in different web portals, but not to enter the data or complete the purchase.

- Check that the portal has a virtual complaints book: make sure that the portal has a complaints book in a visible area of ​​its website.

- Corroborate the available payment methods, costs and shipping time: in addition, to know what the cost of the product is, you must know the shipping cost and time in which the product will be received. All this, before the end of the online purchase process.

- Shipping times and costs vary according to the geographical locations of the company and the client. Keep in mind that certified e-commerce presents alternative card payment options (credit or debit) that should be reviewed before buying.

- Review the exchange and return policies: it is very important to know whether or not you can make changes or returns of the product purchased online, explains the forensic accounting expert from Studler Doyle. Before executing any online purchase, you must be clear under what conditions you can request changes or returns. Even if it is considered necessary, make the respective inquiries to the company through any of its communication channels.

Digital Fraud, the Other Pandemic in America

 

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has not only been synonymous with precariousness in different basic services worldwide, it has also been synonymous with changes in different aspects of our lives, especially personal and professional. The latter, went from being face-to-face to being remote from our homes, so we had to adapt our lives to continue complying with work demands and to be able to keep our jobs and / or companies.

However, being focused on meeting work objectives has caused us to also neglect other aspects such as being exposed to corporate fraud. Fraud experts from Studler Doyle say that all fraud arises from a combination of three elements: pressure, opportunity, and rationalization.

Advancing Equality – Hispanic Representation in Accounting

 

The need for diversity and inclusion in accounting has long been recognized and, while the profession has made great strides toward inclusive practices, certain challenges remain. The underrepresentation of Hispanic people in finance is one area with room for improvement.

As a longtime advocate of diverse hiring and multilingual offices, SDC CPAs follows the research and discussion surrounding the structural and social barriers preventing minorities from pursuing careers in accountancy.

 

Overcoming Obstacles

In an interview with CPA Journal, the chief ethics and diversity officer of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), Alfonzo Alexander detailed the issues contributing to the underrepresentation of minorities in accounting.

 

The pipeline into the profession for minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, is limited. There are not enough minority people starting the path because African Americans and Hispanics are traditionally not familiar with the profession. Studies show the profession is a generational profession. Most current CPAs have a family member who is or was a CPA, and that is where the original exposure came from.

 

In the minority communities, where few have close family members in the profession, most of the exposure to the profession comes from outside of the family. As an example, though my own academic background is in business with an MBA, I did not understand upon graduation what a CPA was. Many folks make career decisions in life having heard about accountants as bookkeepers, but not about CPAs. This is the situation with many in the inner city, where so many minorities live, which is why becoming a CPA is seldom considered.

Beyond this exposure gap described by Alexander, lie structural obstacles in the CPA track. The CPA track comes with significant expenses including a bachelor’s degree, postgraduate education, CPA education hour requirements, CPA exam prep courses, and the cost of the exam itself. These costs, with limited funding support, act as a major deterrent for minority students to become CPAs.

Most Hispanic students who graduate with an accounting degree opt to go straight into their careers, rather than take on the expenses of the CPA track. Even if these students go on to pursue the CPA designation later in their careers, it is well documented that individuals with significant gaps between their education and their CPA exam are less likely to pass the exam.

The situation described by Alexander, in which minority populations have little to no exposure to CPAs and careers in finance, illustrates the obstacle that overshadows many others. Structural changes to the CPA track may be important measures to expand opportunities to underrepresented populations, but the impact of those changes would be minimal without initial outreach and exposure to the profession.

Community outreach can be an effective way for accounting firms to begin addressing this issue in their communities. This can include presence at high school career days and local chapters of industry advocacy organizations such as ALPFA. Firm leadership can also work toward addressing representation issues by mentoring junior employees and providing incentives for employees who pursue additional certifications. SDC CPA uses these in-house practices alongside diverse, multilingual hiring to create opportunities and bolster employees’ careers.

 

The Necessity of 401(k) Cyber Theft Prevention

 

Approximately 1 in 20 Americans have been affected by identity fraud. According to the Javelin 2020 Identity Fraud Report, approximately 13 million Americans every year face some form of identity fraud, including credit card fraud, account takeovers, and government benefits fraud.

While many individuals and organizations have become accustomed to the risk of identity fraud, the recent rise in 401(k) theft perpetrated by strangers is cause for renewed concern.

How Scammers Target Vulnerable Populations

 

In 2019 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported approximately $2 billion in losses due to scams targeting private individuals, with estimates for 2020 appearing significantly higher. While loss due to scams is widespread and harmful, scams can be especially devastating to the most vulnerable members of society. Scams that specifically target vulnerable populations often go unreported and remain outside the public eye.

Due to limited legal and social protections, immigrants and the poor are often easy targets for unscrupulous scammers. Having seen the gamut of fraud and scams, SDC CPAs (formerly Studler Doyle) aims to bring awareness to some of the scams that prove most harmful to vulnerable populations.

 

Immigration Scams

Predatory scams against immigrants are common occurrences with the potential for particularly destructive consequences. During recent periods of anti-immigrant movements, scammers seized opportunities to exploit immigrants’ fear and need for advocacy. A common scam involves individuals falsely claiming to be lawyers or immigrant advocates while charging exorbitant rates and not providing any services.

In these cases, immigrants may be misled, manipulated, and even blackmailed by these phony representatives. Knowledge of the victim’s immigration status and the threat of deportation can often be weaponized against the victim as a means to deter reporting and further exploit individuals.

In an especially cruel twist, falling victim to these scams can lead to immigrants being deported or having their immigration delayed.

 

Lending Scams

Lending scams tend to target individuals living in poverty by offering a quick fix. These scams typically work by providing immediate cash at interest rates as enormous as 500%. In many cases, these loans force the individual deeper into debt and can create a cycle in which loans to fix an immediate problem consume peoples’ entire paychecks, leaving them in need of more loans.

According to Dana Sweeney, a representative of the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, approximately two thirds of the population of the US lives in states where payday lending is legal and, in some places, almost completely unregulated. In states where payday lending is illegal, the practice may continue underground and even further from the public eye.

Even in circumstances in which payday loaning itself is legal, exploitive and dishonest practices – such as misrepresenting interest rates and timelines – present a distinct threat to people in poverty.

While scams targeting vulnerable populations are unconscionable, they are not impermeable. SDC CPA believes that raising awareness and calling attention to these predatory practices is one of the first steps to facilitating change.