Employee Fraud in the Digital Age

In today’s digital world, employee fraud and theft is up and can cost a company a lot of lost revenue. This is an area in which a Private Investigator can be be very valuable to a loss prevention department.

A recent article in the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported two employee fraud investigations.

“Home Depot just caught an employee who stole over 100K in electronic gift cards. “Said accused did, between January and November 2018, use his position as a Home Depot employee to send E-Gift cards to email accounts that he set up himself, or were provided to him from a third party, in the amount of $156,330 U.S. dollars,” the arrest warrant states.”

“A teenager was arrested after he was accused of stealing nearly $1 million from the Kroger store where he worked. According to police, 19-year-old Tre Brown created more than 40 returns for non-existent items in December and January, including lottery tickets that were never sold, spokesman Cpl. Collin Flynn said. Those returns, which ranged in price from $75 to more than $87,000, were then placed on several credit cards, investigators said.”

Benefits Pro, an employee benefit firm, recently published an article on the warning signs.

Employee Fraud Red Flags:

• An employee living beyond their means
• An unwillingness to share duties
• Being under pressure on the job
• Family problems or divorce
• Defensiveness
• Past legal problems
• Refusal to take vacations

According to Certified Fraud Examiners, a typical company can lose up to 5% annually to employee fraud. In fact, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners conducted a study in 2018 titled, “Report to the Nations: 2018 Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.” The study included 2,690 known cases. Many do not get reported due to the stigma and bad public relations to the company itself.

The study goes on to reveal some other commonalities.

  1. The overall amount of loss by men is 75 percent larger than those caused by women.
  2. The most common way employee frauds are discovered is via tips.
  3. Internal control weakness is responsible for nearly half of frauds.
  4. Employees committing fraud who have been with their companies longer stole twice as much.
  5. Small businesses lost almost twice as much to fraud per scheme as larger ones.

Deep Web Research

If the investigator is looking for stolen merchandise, then the web is one of the best places to begin. Conducting a deep web search on a person of interest can provide a starting point. Details may emerge that will provide various emails, phone numbers and user names. Connecting the person with online social media groups, market places, Craigs List, and more may provide you an exact place where the stolen merchandise is being sold.

Auto Parts for Sale

We once worked on a scan for an Investigator whose subject was suspected of selling a very unique set of stolen auto parts. The employee had created an eBay account and made the mistake of using a familiar user name. After the user name was revealed in our Deep Web Scan, we turned our attention to the online websites that sell goods to consumers. We were able to piece this information to that of our client’s subject. A huge catalog of stolen auto parts were on display!

The internet has certainly helped employee fraud. With more avenues to sell stolen merchandise, it can be just the right kind of lure an employee needs to do the unthinkable.

Outdated POS systems, computer programs and data storage entry gaps can be additional areas of concern for many retailers. Being proactive is always your best approach to take away the temptation. Smaller businesses may not have the money for a loss prevention department. That is where a Private Investigator can be a valuable asset to your business, specifically one who deals in computer forensics.

Analyzing Social Media Posts

Analyzing social media posts is most likely something you don’t really do on a regular basis. Unless the case calls for it, there is not always a need for it. However, when there is, so much can be uncovered!

Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer

If you are a Netflix subscriber you may have seen this documentary. It is one of the best OSINT films out there. The documentary uncovers the months it took a group of online sleuths to reveal a real life killer. During the documentary it is revealed how helpful social media posts were in finding clues to the whereabouts of this criminal. It is graphic, so be forewarned. However, the diligence of these average people is noteworthy. It takes time to really dig and even when your subject leaves clues, it can be difficlut.

One scene in particular focuses on the street lights in a city. The subject posted a photo of himself in social media on a city street. One person recognized the style of the street lights and pinpointed them correctly as being in Ontario, Canada. She was correct, however it took so long to persuade the local police to believe her story, the suspect was already on to a new location.

It is also a great example of how important it is to really look at social media posts.

Social Media Post Threats

When scrutinizing social media posts, carefully look beyond the person in the post. Is there a computer screen or tablet that you can zero in on? What about a clock in the background? Cross reference this with the date and time of the post.

Photos of a person’s home can be important as well. Recently, we conducted a deep web scan on a person who was suspected of selling drugs from her home. We searched for a post that she may have forgotten about online that showed her with the drugs. While we did not uncover anything like that, because she had deleted it all, we did uncover something else.

She was showcasing herself in a very specific Reddit group that served as a an advertisement of sorts linking to an online porn site. In this case, she did not show her face on any of the posts. She did however, take all the photos in her bedroom. We were able to link her bedroom from her public Facebook posts to the bedroom from her Reddit posts. Since this was a child custody case, this was an important find.

Reverse Image and Exif Information

Where possible, reverse image searching and checking exif data can help provide additional information when investigating uploaded images. We explained in more detail what Exif data is in a recent post titled, “Where Was This Social Media Photo Taken?”

Reverse image can be done with a Google Image search or Bing Image search. Some paid versions are Tin Eye and Social Catfish.

The Dark Side of OSINT

After the horrific attack on U.S. Congress this month, many law enforcement people turned to photos on social media and the deep web to locate people of interest and to investigate further.

An article, “The Dark Side of Open Source Intelligence” warns to be careful when using this method.

“While the use of open source intelligence has been praised by law enforcement and investigative journalists for its crime-solving efficiency, public data can be dangerous when used in haste on social media. The speed that makes OSINT so effective as an investigative tool can also make its use more susceptible to blunders and bias. From terrorist attacks to protests and mass shootings, open source intelligence has led to inaccurate vigilante-style justice and the doxxing of innocent individuals.“

Like everything else online, some is real and some is not. Cross referencing for data accuracy is critically important.

The Role Culture Plays in Social Media Research

When we think of social media research, or social media listening, culture is not something that immediately comes to mind. It is only when we begin to dig deeper and identify what our search parameters are, that we begin to understand that cultural differences will play an important role.

Recently, a client of ours asked if we had a Spanish speaking analyst because this does indeed help when conducting a search in social media or the deep web. Especially if the person speaks mostly Spanish or a combination of English and Spanish.

Facebook in particular is used by the Hispanic community as a way to stay connected to family and friends. It is also used as a way so celebrate & express diverse aspects of life.

During a recent search, our Senior Spanish Analyst uncovered a post that would lead the average person to think this individual was talking about her son. She called our person of interest her “Mijo” or “Hijo“ translated literally to mean son. Upon further investigation, our analyst knew from other data resources, that this woman was not his mother. It did indicate; however, she was a fan of his. Someone who this woman held dear. The word son in Spanish can be used as a term of endearment or for someone you feel affection for. Understanding culture plays a vital role in all investigations and this is perfect example of that.

In this example we see the literal translation. This is the case where the woman was using the word son as a form of endearment.

The Role of the Hashtag [1]

The Behaviour & Information Technology, publishes research on usability and user experience, human created interaction, human-centered and user-centered design, and human aspects of the digital world. It published an article on “Culture and social media: the relationship between cultural values and hash-tagging styles.”

In the article the authors clearly identify cultural differences in hash-tagging styles. There are characteristics of hashtags and the impact of individual cultures. Their study revealed four dimensions of hashtags.

  • Inspirational
  • Structural
  • Entertaining
  • Artistic

We discussed in a recent blog post; how important hashtags can be when you are researching a person of interest on the web. Don’t Forget the Hashtags highlighted a recent scan we conducted on a person of interest. We were asked to revisit an old case to see if there was any new information available on the subject. A senior analyst located the subject’s Mother’s Facebook profile and noticed she tagged all her photos of her daughters with a specific hashtag. Using the hashtag as a search tool through different social media platforms, our analyst discovered a different profile in which the subject was active and posted often. We wouldn’t have been able to find this profile through our normal search methods because the subject used an alias we didn’t know about.

Twitter & Latino Culture

A good reference is Twitter. Twitter, for example, has a group dedicated to empowering Latino and Latin American employees. Their account is @twitterAlas.

This is a great example. For a non-Latino person, one would need to first understand the meaning of Villancico & then as you scroll through the comments, you may need an interrupter to understand what you are reading.

“Every Latinx person has a story, each different and unique. It defines who we are, and also connects us to one another. We’re the Latinx voices at Twitter!” Tell us who you are using #IamLatinx

Twitter post: September 16, 2019

How Latinos Use Social Media

When it comes to language choice on social media, Hispanics are using both English and Spanish. According to E-consultancy, 33 percent preferred English, while 27 percent opt for Spanish; 40 percent used the two equally. But preference varied with the situation.

Because the culture is very family focused, much is shared with regard to events, celebrations, holidays and achievements.

Don’t overlook blogs and forums. Forums are a platform for expressing opinions and asking questions.

This is why we feel it is important to have a Spanish speaking analyst on our team. She has assisted in many of these cases over the years.  

[1] Pavica Sheldon, Erna Herzfeldt & Philipp A. Rauschnabel (2020) Culture and social media: the relationship between cultural values and hashtagging styles, Behaviour & Information Technology, 39:7, 758-770, DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2019.1611923