Rip Off!

Fraud is big business and growing at an alarming rate. Far more widespread than could be imagined, the consequences of fraud are now more catastrophic than ever.

Interbational fraud investigator Peter Lilley has had first-hand experience of some of the world's biggest financial scams. He's also helped hundreds of companies in the detection and prevention of financial crime. In Rip Off! he recounts many of the cases he's investigated, to give us a fascinating insight into the greed, stupidity and gullibility of both the perpetrators and the victims. He also describes crimes that are so outrageous it is difficult to believe they were allowed to happen.

So why are we experiencing a worldwide explosion in fraud? Peter Lilley looks at the major changes that have taken place over the last 20 years, which have created a climate in which fraud, corruption and organized crime can flourish. Changing business practices, political upheaval, the breaking down of geographical boundaries, and, not least, the advent of the Internet have projected fraud into a new, unparalleled, unregulated global world of opportunity.

In Rip Off! you'll discover:

• the true scale of global fraud — what really goes on;
• how to recognize employee fraud;
• how to prevent fraud attacks from outsiders;
• what to do about computer crime and cyber attacks.

1. www.fraudexplosion.com/itsaglobalthing
• The globalization of it all …
• The rip off tool kit
• It's a global thing part two
• The global context
• It's a global thing part three: new opportunities every day
• The iceberg effect
• How much fraud are we talking about?
2. Ultimate insiders: recognizing the categories of symptoms that signal employee fraud
• It couldn't happen to us (could it?)
• The fraud report
• Portrait of a fraudster
• Don't let it happen to you
• Conclusions: the top ten tip-offs to rip offs
3. Too good to be true: fraud attack by outsiders
• How to be not quite diligent enough
• How can it be a fraud? We credit referenced the people
• How to protect yourself and your company
4. Route 419 to organized crime
• Are Nigerians the most organized crime group of all?
• What you can do to prevent losing money (and face)
5. Sex, drugs and money laundering: how the unstoppable rise of transnational organized crime affects you
• The scale of the problem
• The money laundering process
• Key suggestions
• The money laundering world
6. From beyond the wall: organized crime from the former Soviet Union
• On the inside
• Capital flight or money laundering?
• Flooding outside
• The future
7. Slip and fall, swoop and squat with the bull and cow: the crazy world of insurance fraud
• The scale of fraud: just how serious is it?
• How to avoid your business being defrauded by fraudulent insurance providers
• Ten keys to fighting insurance fraud
8. Wired for technology: computer and cyber attacks
• Technology: a selective time line
• The cost, level and extent of computer fraud and crime
• Some problems with definitions
• The problems
• What you must do to control the problem
9. A blueprint to fight fraud and survive the global fraud explosion
• A way forward: fraud control assessment
10. Developing an action and PR plan after the discovery of fraud to minimize damage to reputation and recover assets
• The warning or denial phase
• The acute phase
• The cleanup phase
• The resolution phase

• Postscript: the future of fraud on the Internet, right here, right now

A very good overview of the Global Fraud problem. Read it and weep (and of course, stuff all your money in the mattress and buy a new shotgun).