ACCT 320
Investigative Project Design-Wire Fraud
UMGC
ACCT 320 Fraud Detection and Deterrence
Case Presentation
Faye Barnes and Jack Holmes created a scheme that hacked into the company's network and
spoofed emails. If a company had an account payable account and invoices were being paid
through ACH and was approved through email it was an easy way for them to steal money. They
would send an email from a current employee asking that an invoice be paid for some kind of
related consulting service. When accounting requested approval from the manager of the
requester that email would get bounced back to them and they would respond approved. The
company would process an ACH payment sending the money to the account that Faye and Jack
set up. They thought the bigger the merger and acquisition the distraction would be in the
transiting of the companies. Faye and Jack were able to keep this scheme going for 4 years until
a company called Diatech acquired a company called Fortitude. Diatech was a 4.8 billion dollar
technology company which was one of the biggest companies they worked their fraudulent
scheme on. Because the company was worth so much Faye and Jack invoiced one too many
times. Fred in accounting was having a general conversation with the manager Paul that was
supposedly signing off the invoices and in the conversation, he said “hey don’t forget to approve
the invoice from Bay LLC” the company that Faye and Jack created. Paul was perplexed as he
didn’t know what Fred was talking about and asked to see the physical invoices. Once they
looked over the invoice and email they found that the email address was so identical except for a
lowercase letter that it went unnoticed for some time. The bank was notified and there begun the
fraud investigation that traced the bank funds back to Faye and Jacke and they were charged with
wire fraud and phishing.
Investigate Project Design
Given the above-outlined case, as a fraud examiner I would conduct the following steps:
1. Consult with Diatech about their suspicion of fraud to make sure it is a legitimate case
2. Ask for Fred in accounting to write down the accounting steps of processing ACH payments to
ensure that protocol was followed and the fraud did not start internally. Including printing out
emails any other documentation related to the transactions.
3. The companies bank needs to be contacted so they can do their investigation which will
involve reviewing the transaction data including timestamps, geolocation, IP addresses, and other
components ("How Banks Conduct Transaction Fraud Investigations", 2021). It will be
Investigative Project Design-Wire Fraud
UMGC
ACCT 320 Fraud Detection and Deterrence
Case Presentation
Faye Barnes and Jack Holmes created a scheme that hacked into the company's network and
spoofed emails. If a company had an account payable account and invoices were being paid
through ACH and was approved through email it was an easy way for them to steal money. They
would send an email from a current employee asking that an invoice be paid for some kind of
related consulting service. When accounting requested approval from the manager of the
requester that email would get bounced back to them and they would respond approved. The
company would process an ACH payment sending the money to the account that Faye and Jack
set up. They thought the bigger the merger and acquisition the distraction would be in the
transiting of the companies. Faye and Jack were able to keep this scheme going for 4 years until
a company called Diatech acquired a company called Fortitude. Diatech was a 4.8 billion dollar
technology company which was one of the biggest companies they worked their fraudulent
scheme on. Because the company was worth so much Faye and Jack invoiced one too many
times. Fred in accounting was having a general conversation with the manager Paul that was
supposedly signing off the invoices and in the conversation, he said “hey don’t forget to approve
the invoice from Bay LLC” the company that Faye and Jack created. Paul was perplexed as he
didn’t know what Fred was talking about and asked to see the physical invoices. Once they
looked over the invoice and email they found that the email address was so identical except for a
lowercase letter that it went unnoticed for some time. The bank was notified and there begun the
fraud investigation that traced the bank funds back to Faye and Jacke and they were charged with
wire fraud and phishing.
Investigate Project Design
Given the above-outlined case, as a fraud examiner I would conduct the following steps:
1. Consult with Diatech about their suspicion of fraud to make sure it is a legitimate case
2. Ask for Fred in accounting to write down the accounting steps of processing ACH payments to
ensure that protocol was followed and the fraud did not start internally. Including printing out
emails any other documentation related to the transactions.
3. The companies bank needs to be contacted so they can do their investigation which will
involve reviewing the transaction data including timestamps, geolocation, IP addresses, and other
components ("How Banks Conduct Transaction Fraud Investigations", 2021). It will be
