Carnival of Fraud
Welcome to the December 29, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud.
Wenchypoo presents Update With Bonus: The “Con” in Lexicon posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket, saying, “An explanation of how mere words can rob us blind if we let them.”
Peter presents Greed. It Never Ends Well. posted at Bible Money Matters, saying, “Looking at a couple of recent cases of fraud – Bernard Madoff and Tom Petters.”
Home Life Weekly presents Prevent Identity Theft in 14 Easy Ways posted at Home Life Weekly, saying, “Identity theft is something you think only happens to other people. As we know identity theft is a fast growing crime, here are 14 ways to prevent and protect identity theft from happening to you.”
Jim presents Madoff’s $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Leon Gettler presents Madoff: why the SEC dropped the investigation posted at Sox First, saying, “Here are the reasons why the SEC did nto pursue its investigations into Bernard Madoff.”
Pinyo Bhulipongsanon presents Big Bath Accounting Fraud posted at Moolanomy.
Jim presents Regulation E: Understanding Debit Card Fraud Rules on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Raymond presents New Credit Card Rules posted at Money Blue Book.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of fraud using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: carnival of fraud, blog carnival.
Carnival of Personal Finance #185: Cheesehead Edition
Welcome to the last Carnival of Personal Finance for 2008, The Cheesehead Edition. I’m located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I send greetings from fellow Cheeseheads. We’ve had an interesting winter so far, with record-level snowfalls in December, followed by record high temperatures on Saturday, and now back to freezing temperatures. Hopefully this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance can warm some hearts…
If you have an interest in fraud and scams, this blog is the place to be. I regularly rip on those perpetrating fraud against unsuspecting consumers. I recommend subscribing to my feed… And if you like shorter takes on things, you can follow me on Twitter.
How to make social media a total waste of time
I admit it: I’m not a lover of all things social media. I am participating in the Facebook and Twitter discussions a bit begrudgingly. It’s not that I don’t think these tools work to grow businesses and create interesting discourse. They do.
It’s just that as a solo, I have only so much time available to me, and I’m interested in being involved with the things that offer the most bang for the buck. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to “sell” to my followers and friends, or looking at them as a means to an end. But at the end of the day, I have to make a living and I’m trying to use my time as efficiently as possible.
For Students and Job Seekers: Becoming a Fraud Investigator
I routinely get emails from students, job seekers, or the gainfully employed who want to make a career change… all asking me for advice on getting into the field of forensic accounting and fraud investigation.
Here are my top three tips for getting into this field:
Carnival of Fraud – December 15, 2008
Welcome to the December 15, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud.
Credit Card Assist presents Who Here Hates the Junk Mail and Why it Can Be Dangerous posted at Credit Cards Blog | CreditCardAssist.com.
Jim presents Mona Vie Scam? The Magical Acai Berry Juice Product on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Leon Gettler presents Madoff and SEC neglect posted at Sox First, saying, “Wall Street giant Bernard Madoff has been charged with a $50 billion fraud. But why did the SEC ignore the warnings?”
The Journal of Accountancy recommends Sam Antar’s blog
For the Journal of Accountancy’s “Smart Stops on the Web” column:
IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
www.whitecollarfraud.blogspot.comWho knows fraud better than a fraudster? Sam E. Antar, former Crazy Eddie Inc. CFO and convicted felon, shares his views and advice on white collar crime, securities fraud, internal controls, Sarbanes-Oxley and more on his blog. The introduction states, “The well-educated, skilled, and experienced accountant is the first line of defense for the capitalist system.” And, toward that end, Antar points out inconsistencies in companies, organizations and governments, offers how-tos on detecting fraud, and muses on wrongdoings. You can browse by the most popular posts, learn more about the Crazy Eddie fraud scheme, check out fraud facts, and find related blogs in his list of links.
Social media in the hands of irresponsible employees can be dangerous
A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting encounter with a PR firm in Florida. The Buyer Group is owned by Lisa Buyer. They were retained by Shop To Earn (STE) to do an online PR campaign, including a lame blog that is supposed to counteract the “negative” information found on the internet about STE.
I have been one of the main critics of Shop To Earn (also using the name Shop To Earth), a multi-level marketing scheme. There are very few people willing to tell the truth about STE and the flaws in its program. I’ve been more than happy to expose how little money people are actually making from this scheme, and the fact that the vast majority of people will lose money with it.
Zac Bissonnette…. on his way to star status!
Huge congratulations go out to my dear friend, Zac Bissonnette. Zac is one of my editors at WalletPop.com, and sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He just signed a huge book deal with Portfolio after a bidding war between 3 publishers.
Publishers Weekly and Media Bistro’s GalleyCat both report on this big book deal. Publishers Weekly says:
The author, a college sophomore and co-editor of AOL’s WalletPop.com, will argue that American parents and their high school children need to rethink their approach to choosing and paying for college. Bissonette, who contends that most elite private colleges are overrated, is paying his own way through the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; he’ll show parents and students how to assess the value of a private versus public university degree, demonstrate the ramifications of saddling oneself with student loan debt and explain how students can use their college years to position themselves for long-term success.
What a great opportunity for a wonderful person who works hard and deserves all the success in the world!
Carnival of Fraud – November 24, 2008
Welcome to the November 24, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud.
Jim presents Five Check Fraud Tips by Frank Abagnale on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
debergerac78 presents How to Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams posted at Creating With Impact, saying, “This short, simple video tells you how to keep criminals from getting your bank accounts numbers, password, pin, and other sensitive information.”
My recent articles at AOL’s WalletPop
Here are a few of the more interesting articles I’ve written at AOL’s personal finance site WalletPop recently.
An uglier side to the AIG story – Employees being harassed and intimidated by consumers.
