Stolen Identity Refund Fraud and LexisNexis TRIS Analytics

Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) is a relatively new phenomenon in Indiana and across the US — an unfortunate fallout from the intended convenience of electronic tax filing with quick electronic refunds.  As Forensic Accountants and Data Mining Specialist headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, we are considered experts in this niche field.  We also fully understand the difficulty of investigating these matters and identifying those who are committing the crime.  In this article, we will explain what SIRF is and a new ingenious tool states are using to combat this financial crime.

10 Tips to Prevent and Deter Fraud and Identify Theft

Here at Certified Fraud & Forensic Investigations (CFFI), an Indiana licensed CPA and Private Investigative firm, we fully understand the challenge to reduce risk of cyber-criminals stealing your identity and causing havoc in your business or personal life so we have developed 10 Tips to Prevent and Deter Fraud and Identify Theft that should be easy to follow in order to maximize your business security plan and for your personal protection. As I’m sure you know identify theft is the fastest growing crime in America if not the world. And once someone gains access to those pieces of Personally Identifiable Information (PII); for example social security number, date of birth, address, passwords, user ID’s, etc… It can become a nightmare when it comes to filing your taxes, controlling your bank accounts, emails, photos, cloud account, just to name a few. So with that in mind, here are the top 10 best practice steps … Continued

Fraud Prevention and Identity Theft Training

We hear from many people who have been hit by scammers, fraudsters or cybercriminals that stole their identity, pilfered their credit card numbers, social security and bank account numbers.  You most likely have seen commercials about Identity Theft Protection, but through our identity theft training, we would like to provide you with some easy-to-use security techniques so you can take action and save money by not paying companies such as LifeLock to monitor your credit standing. We have seen hundreds of victims from identity theft and helped them in various ways.  As a sergeant for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), I frequently am able to make the arrest of the suspects after the working citizens lost much of their hard-earned money, high-ranking credit score, personal time and faith in their fellow man.  But in order to cut the criminal off at the knees, we suggest to you there is … Continued

Identity Theft – Notes from a Private Investigator

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Security Threats In today’s era of computer espionage and high-tech identity theft, all businesses, governmental agencies, and private citizens should be aware that there may be bad people after private information.  As a forensic accountant and private investigator, I know that once your sensitive and private information is discovered by a fraudster, your life and business can become very difficult.  If you don’t have proper identity theft safeguards and internal controls in place, read on.  My goal is to encourage you to become more aware and proactive in changing some of your standard business practices so you don’t need to hire a forensic accountant or private investigator to clean up the damage from identity theft.  Background searches, computer forensics, and forensic accounting investigations that will determine who and how your bank accounts have been depleted are time consuming and costly.