Fraud Prevention Tip #10: All Employees Must Be Actively Recruited into Anti-Fraud Campaigns

First level employees, their supervisors and mid-level managers are your most important line of defense against fraud. All must be actively recruited into your Anti-Fraud Campaign.

Here are three flawed beliefs that often get in the way. All must be addressed openly for your Anti-Fraud Campaign to work.

1. Fraud prevention is common sense.

Leaders who say, “You know, fraud prevention is just common sense” make me very nervous. They don’t understand. They have a blind spot in their thinking that blocks progress and harms your anti-fraud efforts.

The fact is most employees have no meaningful knowledge of fraud prevention and quick detection techniques relevant to their work responsibilities. They

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must be taught because it’s not a core skill they bring to the job. How to prevent fraud isn’t something we learned in high school, college or post-graduate training.

There is an assumption that in a professional setting and in any corporate, not-for-profit or education organization that employees already know how to manage fraud risks. It is a dangerously flawed assumption in most cases, and it can be easily fixed with some ‘how-to’ skills training by supervisors and anti-fraud experts.

2. Fraud is too negative to discuss with employees.

I know this belief is flawed because every single time I am engaged to provide anti-fraud skills training, someone will come forward and ask, “Why did the company leaders take so long to tell us this?”

It’s not too negative to discuss. In fact, your team will thank you for giving them the tools to help. By bringing fraud risks out into the open and addressing them in a positive way, it’s not negative at all. Employees want to be part of the solution. All you have to do is ask for their help and show them how. They will respond positively every time.

3. We’ll scare everybody.

You know what? Talking about it openly may scare a few people if what you mean is ‘scare them into action’ by bringing fraud risks to their conscious level and giving them tools to fight. It may make them nervous and put them briefly on the edge of their seat. Not in a negative way. But in a way that gets them emotionally involved in the discussion. Don’t scare them though fear techniques, but don’t back away from a healthy discussion about what can go wrong and how they can help.

Again, they will respond and help – if you ask and show them how.

John J. Hall, CPA

John J. Hall, CPA, is an author, speaker and results expert who presents around the world at conventions, corporate meetings and association events. Throughout his 35-year career as a business consultant, corporate executive and professional speaker, John has helped organizations and individuals achieve measurable results. He inspires audience members in corporations, not-for-profit organizations and professional associations to step up, take action and “do what you can.”