Chapter 8: INVESTIGATING CONCEALMENT
Concealment Investigative Methods
After the theft, additional evidential tracks occur as perpetrators conceal their fraud by
covering their actions, obscuring evidence, and removing red flags where possible.
While many methods of concealment are possible, concealment generally is
accomplished by manipulating documentary evidence.
such as purchase invoices, sales invoices, credit memos, deposit slips, checks,
receiving reports, bills of lading, leases, titles, sales receipts, money orders,
cashier’s checks, or insurance policies
From an electronic perspective, concealment is accomplished by modifying or deleting
records in corporate databases, logs, and communications.
Aspects of Documentary Evidence
Most concealment-based investigative techniques involve ways to discover physical
documents or computer records that have been manipulated or altered.
When faced with a choice between an eyewitness and a good document as evidence,
most fraud experts choose the document.
Unlike witnesses, documents do not forget, they cannot be cross-examined or
confused by attorneys, they cannot commit perjury, and they never tell
inconsistent stories on two different occasions.
In today’s interconnected, financial world, it is nearly impossible to transfer money
without creating documents along the process.
Documents are almost always available to the fraud investigator who knows where to
find them because most fraud involves money at some point.
Example—Cancelled Check
Information on the front and back of a cancelled check (which is a document) is shown
and listed in Figure 8.1.
If you were investigating a kickback or a forgery scheme, this check would allow you to
complete a paper trail of the entire transaction.
This check would direct you to the teller who processed the transaction and who may
remember valuable information about the suspect.
In e-commerce situations, XML documents and other files provide similar information.
