Fraud investigation
You’ve just been informed of a matter that makes your heart sink. It may be a tip off that an employee is submitting bogus invoices for payment, manipulating electronic payment batches or has set up ghost employees on the payroll. You may have reason to suspect customers or suppliers are defrauding you.
No matter what the case may be, your mind is racing with hundreds of questions. Who’s involved? How far does this go? How much is involved? How did this happen? Who can I trust?
The right response will depend on the circumstances, but the decisions you make now will have a significant impact on the success of the investigation and recovery of the funds. These same decisions may later be critically examined in Court, so carefully document your decisions and the reasons for them.
You need to get a team of investigators on the ground immediately so they can secure potentially relevant evidence in a forensically sound manner and answer your questions.
As the investigation unfolds you will need to consider your objectives regarding employment, civil recovery of the funds and prosecution.
Experience Counts
Deloitte’s Forensic team has completed hundreds of fraud investigations, ranging from bogus invoice frauds to complex mortgage frauds involving tens of millions of dollars and significant benefit frauds. We are regularly engaged by enforcement agencies to complete complex financial investigations. The team has an excellent track record in identifying potential assets for recovery and working with lawyers to ensure the maximum possible recovery is achieved. Should civil litigation be necessary to recover the funds, you will be comforted knowing that the team is regularly called on to provide evidence in Court.
We can help you:
- By completing the entire investigation or by sharing our specialist resources (forensic technology, visualisation, data analytics and forensic accounting) to complement the resources on your investigation team;
- Gather the evidence necessary to deal with any employment matters;
- Trace the misappropriated funds;
- Identify potential assets for recovery, work with your lawyers to secure and realise these assets;
- Liaise with the Police or other enforcement agencies;
- Reduce and detect fraud
