This Week is International Fraud Awareness Week
This week (November 15-21) is International Fraud Awareness Week, which is dedicated to the global effort to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education. This event, held by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), is a time to share information about preventing fraud, identity theft, and security with peers, coworkers, and family members.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) made a large-scale fraud bust in September when they charged 345 defendants in a $6 billion health care scandal. Telemedicine executives allegedly paid doctors and nurses to order unnecessary medical equipment and make fraudulent claims for medical treatments that either did not occur or were pointless. International Fraud Awareness Week brings attention to busts like these and prevents such crimes from happening in the future.
The Fraud Awareness Week websites offers a number of resources that can help people get involved in spreading fraud awareness. For example, there are videos such as “Why do people commit fraud” and videos on topics like money laundering, computer fraud schemes, and identity theft that people can share on social media. Participants in Fraud Awareness Week can even test their fraud knowledge with a 30-question Jeo-party game.
Participants in International Fraud Awareness Week can also download badges, logos, and even email signatures to spread the word about fraud in the U.S. Included in the many fraud week resources are also a number of guides such as the Fraud Prevention Checklist and the Fraud Week Handout, which includes “5 Fraud Tips Every Business Leader Should Act On.”
In addition to the videos, guides, and badges, the website also offers infographics and reports on topics like behavioral red flags of fraud, response to fraud, and the profile of a fraudster. Several universities and offices around the world are holding their own virtual events in support of International Fraud Awareness Week to spread the word and prevent people from becoming victims of fraud themselves.