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.

 

History of Women in Accounting – Mary T. Washington Wylie

 

As the profession of accounting becomes increasingly diverse and benefits from that variety of perspectives, it is important to recognize the individuals who paved the way for inclusion. Mary T. Washington Wylie is not only known for becoming the first African American female CPA, but for her dedication to training future generations of African American CPAs.

 

Becoming an Accountant

Born in 1906, Mary Washington was raised in Chicago, Illinois by her grandparents. She showed interest in math from a young age and excelled in math at her high school. After high school, Washington worked at the prominent black-owned Binga State Bank. Always ambitious, Washington rose to the position of assistant to the bank’s vice president, Arthur J. Wilson, the country’s second black CPA.

Under Wilson’s mentorship, Washington attended the accounting program at Northwestern University and opened her own small accounting business. After graduating from Northwestern in 1941 and fulfilling a two-year apprenticeship with Wilson, she passed the Illinois CPA exam in 1943 and became the first African American woman to receive the CPA designation.

 

Building a Community

Washington’s firm continued to grow and thrive as small black-owned businesses sought her services. Her firm grew along with these business and helped develop Chicago’s highly successful African American business community.

With her high-profile practice and commitment to supporting the community, Mary T. Washington and Co. became an “accounting underground railroad” where aspiring black accountants from across the country sought employment and apprenticeship as a point-of-entry to the world of accounting. Going into the 1960s, Chicago had the country’s highest concentration of African American CPAs—in large part due to Washington’s work. 

Mary T. Washington died in 2005 but is still remembered and celebrated. In Chicago, September 30 has been officially declared “Mary T. Washington Wylie Day” to honor her contributions to the African American business community. The Illinois CPA Society continues her work of empowering aspiring African American accountants with the “Mary T. Washington Wylie Opportunity Fund.”

Her legacy and efforts also live on in the always-growing number of black-owned and women-owned accounting firms, the latter of which SDC CPAs and its founder Dee Studler are proud to represent.

‘Tis the Season for Employee Theft

In the last two months of the year, sales boom and shoppers flood retail spaces. The holiday shopping season is critical for many businesses. With 20% of annual retail sales occurring during the holidays, a number of factors lead to a disproportionate 25-30% of annual loss occurring during the holidays.

Abundant Opportunity

The increased store traffic and sales create distinct vulnerabilities for businesses trying to match seasonal demand.

The most notable risk factor for employee theft during the holiday season is reduced oversight due to greater customer volume. When staff and supervisors are spread thin, businesses tend to neglect their usual oversight measures. Under these conditions, employee theft practices are more likely to go undetected—among these are “sweetheart deals,” where employees give under-the-table deals to friends and family.

Applications of Forensic Accounting

 

Forensic Accounting is the specialty practice area of accounting that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. “Forensic” means suitable for use in Court, and it is to that standard and potential outcome that forensic accountants generally have to work.

Forensic accountants examine data to determine where missing money has gone and how to recover it. They may also present reports of their financial findings as evidence during hearings, where they often testify as expert witnesses. This work serves an important purpose at public accounting and consulting firms, law firms, law enforcement agencies, and insurance companies.

How to Manage the Risk of Corporate Fraud during a Pandemic

 

The risk of fraud is present in all organizations, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on various internal factors such as organizational culture, level of maturity in corporate governance, management of risks, internal control, type and size of business and others, and external factors including industry: national / regional context, market in which it operates and others.

Fraud, unfortunately, is a risk that can affect any organization at any time, in normal times or even in times of crisis. Furthermore, in times of crisis, the risk of fraud may increase, as some people may find in the crisis a motive (pressure / incentive), an opportunity, or a justification (rationalization) to commit irregularities.

Types of Forensic Audit

Forensic Auditing is a technique that aims to participate in fraud investigation. It is developed through criminal investigation techniques, integrated with accounting and legal - procedural knowledge, and skills in financial areas. Forensic auditing has the aim to provide information and evidences at a court.

We went to Studler Doyle, a global investigation and forensic accounting firm in order to find out how forensic audit works. Here, we share the information we have obtained about what is forensic audit and what are its types.

It should be noted that Forensic Auditing is a highly useful and collaborative technique that allows to the investigation of law enforcement bodies, police, prosecutorial and judicial investigation departments, to clarify possible illicit acts or crimes.

Background of Forensic Accounting

The term forensic is initially associated with legal medicine and with those who practice it, as most people identify this word with autopsy and pathology. Forensic Accounting has existed for a long time, and today its protagonism is undoubted as the entire community recognizes the importance of the role it plays in society and the long road that still has to go.

Ever since its founding in 2001, by Dee Studler and Krista Doyle, Studler Doyle has been regarded as a one of the top forensic accounting companies that provides a complete range of forensic accounting solutions. Studler Doyle offers the services of highly-experienced investigating and forensic accounting experts who have a sharp eye for detail when it comes to investigating and analyzing specific accounting situations.