My goal in this research was to develop a checklist for examining a cheque for information that can be used to identify, individualise and trace the perpetrator of a crime. A further intent was to share and introduce a number of important concepts, namely forensic investigation, identification, individualisation, the Locard principle and crime scene. This research will explain that forensic investigation refers to the using of sophisticated investigation techniques to obtain sufficient information to prove the true facts in a court of law. Further, that identification is the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which an object is definitively recognisable or known, while the individual characteristics establish the individuality of a specific object. To link an individual with a crime scene, many types of evidence may be used and to associate an individual with the performed illegal handling, many types of evidence may be used. These types of evidence are commonly referred to as ”transfer” evidence. This process is also referred to as the ”Locard principle”. Lastly, a crime scene is explained as a place where a crime has occurred. It is also explained to be a ”laboratory of information” and therefore, during a cheque fraud investigation, the cheque is in most cases the only link to information to trace, identify and individualise the perpetrator. Therefore, the cheque should be treated as a crime scene. If forensic investigators use their knowledge of these concepts together with the checklist, it should enhance their investigation skills and empower them to become better equipped for the challenges they face in identifying, individualising and tracing the perpetrators in order to ensure successful prosecution and conviction. I believe all forensic investigators will benefit from what I have discovered through this research and I am very pleased to be able to introduce this checklist to you. / Criminology and Security Science / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

The analysis of bank account statements to establish evidence of illicit financial activity is an established financial investigation methodology in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, but it is still in its infancy in South Africa. This is further highlighted by virtue of the fact that no uniform analysis methodology is used in South Africa for the analysis of bank account statements. The purpose of the research was to explore the role of such analysis, and the current practises in South Africa and New Jersey in the United States. This was to determine a practical model for the analysis of bank account statements in the South African context. Empirical research led to a proposed process model for such analysis, which was synthesised from current practises in South Africa and New Jersey in the United States. This model is proposed as the basis for the development of a uniform analysis methodology for the examination of bank account statements. / Die analise van bankrekeningstate om bewys van onwettige finasiële aktiwiteite te bepaal is 'n vasgestelde finansiële ondersoek metode in lande soos die Verenigde State en die Verenigde Koningkryk, maar in Suid-Afrika is dit steeds in die begin stadium. Dit is verder beklemtoon deur die feit dat daar geen eenvormige analise metode in Suid-Afrika in gebruik is vir die analise van bankrekeningstate. Die doel van die navorsing was om die rol van hierdie tipe analise, en die huidige praktyk in Suid-Afrika en New Jersey in die Verenigde State te bepaal. Dit was om 'n praktiese model vir die analise van bankrekeningstate in Suid-Afrika te bepaal. Empiriese navorsing het gelui tot 'n voorgestelde proses model vir hierdie tipe analise, wat 'n samesmelting van die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse en New Jersey in die Verenigde State praktyk is. Hierdie model word voorgestel as die beginpunt vir die ontwikkeling van 'n eenvormige analise metode vir die ondersoek van bankrekening state. / Criminology and Security Science / M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

A tecnologia da informação e comunicação é um fator importante no desenvolvimento futuro da indústria de serviços financeiros, com especial atenção ao setor bancário. A maioria dos bancos utiliza a Internet como um canal estratégico de distribuição onde seus serviços e produtos possuem uma relação muito próxima com o conceito mais amplo possível de marketing, aquele que descreve plenamente um ambiente e um nicho de negócio e onde o desenvolvimento e evolução deste canal associa-se diretamente a própria evolução do marketing em si. O tema central deste trabalho é apresentar uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o canal Internet Banking analisando as principais questões e desafios referentes às fraudes eletrônicas e suas ameaças, além de descrever o impacto das mídias sociais que estão ocasionando dentro das corporações. Realiza-se também um paralelo de como os serviços e produtos bancários acompanharam de perto a evolução do marketing e como, hoje, neste momento de transição de um paradigma econômico para outro, estes dois modelos se relacionam em um ponto específico: a tendência das fraudes no ambiente de Internet Banking e sua evolução para o Social Banking. Analisam-se também quais caminhos serão abertos dentro do novo paradigma de economia e marketing sociais para este tipo de ocorrência. Para atenuar de forma eficaz o risco de fraude, é importante implementar um amplo programa decisório para prevenção, que se estenda além de um conjunto de controles internos sofisticados em todos os níveis e divisões de uma organização. Finalmente, a conclusão e perspectivas futuras da evolução do Internet Banking para o Social Banking com uma análise da evolução das ameaças e fraudes eletrônicas neste novo canal. / Information technology and communication is an important factor in the future development of the financial services industry, with particular attention to the banking sector. Most banks use the Internet as a strategic distribution channel where its services and products have a very close relationship with the broader concept of marketing, one that fully describes an environment and a niche business and where the development and evolution of this channel is directly associated with the evolution of the marketing itself. The central theme of this work is to present a literature review on the Internet Banking channel analyzing key issues and challenges related to electronic fraud and threats, and describes the impact of social media is causing in corporations. Additionally to the threats on the Internet Banking, this work brings an analyze of how the banking products and services are closely followed by the marketing evolution and how at this moment of transition from a economic perspective to another, these two business models are co-related to a specific aspect: The future and trends of the electronic fraud on the Internet Banking towards the evolution to the Social Banking. It also analyzes which paths will also open within the new paradigm of economics and social marketing for this type of occurrence. To effectively mitigate the risk of fraud, it is important to implement a comprehensive decision-making prevention program that extends beyond a sophisticated set of internal controls at all levels and divisions of an organization. Finally, the conclusion and future prospects of the development of Internet Banking for Social Banking with an analysis of the evolution of electronic fraud and threats in this new channel.

<p>Scams and fraud have become a significant problem for the American population within the past few years. While victims range from young to older adults, it is the seniors who are the major targets. In 2018 the Federal Trade Commission reported that senior citizens aged 60 years and above formed 35% of all the scam victims it recorded. According to the U.S Senate Committee on aging, scams like the grandparent scam, IRS impersonation scam, romance scam; have become popular. Even at this level of notoriety, most victims are usually unaware of it entirely or how its perpetrators commit these crimes. Being aware of the situation is a critical step towards curbing this problem. This thesis project uses User-Centered Design (UCD) to understand, conceptualize, and prototype a solution to promote social interaction while improving the cognitive abilities of seniors and creating awareness about fraud. The design requirements and direction were formed through multivariate research methods like literature review, user interviews, and focus group sessions. The proposed solution is Puppy valley, an app-mediated trivia board game that has a physical wheel and mobile application and uses narratives inspired by real fraud cases to create activities for users to play with. After the research and design, the game was evaluated by five experts, and refinements within the scope of the study were made based on the insights from the evaluation.</p>

The subject of my dissertation is fraud in clinical trials in terms of ethics and law. The aim of my research was to analyze the frequency of fraud in clinical trials of a given sample of data collected, identify the main fraudsters and to analyze the causes that led participants in clinical trials to commit fraud. In the theoretical part of my dissertation I defined the concepts of clinical trials, deception, ethical issues and the relevant legal framework. The practical part contains the results of the data analysis of the incidence and causes of fraud, the main actors of fraud and conception of recommendations, which appears to be essential for the prevention of fraud in clinical trials. The data analysis and participant observation show that during 107 GCP (Good Glinical Practice) audits conducted during the period of 2008-2013 in 22 countries, 14 revelations of fraud in clinical trials were identified, which represents 13.1 %. Most often fraud was committed by investigators, a total of 47.6 % of all observed groups of cheating clinical trial participants. The main causes that led investigators to commit fraud represent a lack of eligible patients, financial gain and personality traits. Based on the results obtained during my research I highlighted in the practical part of my dissertation the ethical...

The subject of my dissertation is fraud in clinical trials in terms of ethics and law. The aim of my research was to analyze the frequency of fraud in clinical trials of a given sample of data collected, identify the main fraudsters and to analyze the causes that led participants in clinical trials to commit fraud. In the theoretical part of my dissertation I defined the concepts of clinical trials, deception, ethical issues and the relevant legal framework. The practical part contains the results of the data analysis of the incidence and causes of fraud, the main actors of fraud and conception of recommendations, which appears to be essential for the prevention of fraud in clinical trials. The data analysis and participant observation show that during 107 GCP (Good Glinical Practice) audits conducted during the period of 2008-2013 in 22 countries, 14 revelations of fraud in clinical trials were identified, which represents 13.1 %. Most often fraud was committed by investigators, a total of 47.6 % of all observed groups of cheating clinical trial participants. The main causes that led investigators to commit fraud represent a lack of eligible patients, financial gain and personality traits. Based on the results obtained during my research I highlighted in the practical part of my dissertation the ethical...

Abstract State-Corporate Crime in Swedish – A prestudy in definitions and opportunity structures The purpose of this study was to, through Swedish cases of state-corporate crime, raise the concept in a Swedish context and study whether there were specific opportunity structures in Swedish conditions and analyze this trough criminological theory. The data collection method consisted of a media and literature review, where the selection was based on the concept of state-corporate crime. The data was then studied through a crime script analysis, and finally analyzed in a comparative case study. The Swedish cases that were found were: the Bofors affairs, the Saudi agreement, the JAS affairs and the Telia affairs. These constituted examples of both State initiated corporate crime and State facilitated corporate crime and turned out to have similar opportunity structures. Which consisted of pressure for profit, criminal tools in the form of bribes and middlemen, and of neutralization techniques. The result match Cressey's fraud triangle theory of pressure, opportunity, and rationalization. / Sammanfattning State-Corporate Crime på svenska – En förstudie i definitioner och tillfällesstrukturer Syftet med denna studie var att genom svenska fall av state-corporate crime dels lyfta begreppet i en svensk kontext, dels undersöka om specifika tillfällesstrukturer gjorde sig gällande i svenska förhållanden samt analysera dessa mot kriminologisk teori. Datainsamlingsmetoden utgjorde en media- och litteraturgenomgång där urvalet grundade sig i begreppsapparaten state-corporate crime. Det empiriska materialet undersöktes sedan genom en skriptanalys, för att avslutningsvis analyseras i en jämförande fallstudie. De kända svenska fall som påträffades var Boforsaffärerna, Saudiavtalet, JAS-affärerna samt Telia-affärerna. Dessa utgjorde exempel på både State initiated corporate crime och State facilitated corporate crime och visade sig ha liknande mönster av tillfällesstrukturer. Tillfällesstrukturerna bestod övergripande i en press om vinst, brottsliga verktyg i form av mutor och mellanhänder samt av neutraliseringstekniker. Vilket är förenligt med Cresseys teori om fraud triangle.

Business Management / D. B. L.

At any given moment in time, there are people complying with fraudulent requests (i.e. scams) on the Internet. While the incidence rates are low (between five and ten percent of the population becoming victims on a yearly basis), the financial and emotional consequences can be high. In this Thesis we composed a unified theory of which factors made individuals more likely to comply with scams and what psychological mechanisms are unwittingly employed by con-men to make their (illegitimate marketing) offers more enticing. The strongest overall predictor of scam compliance (i.e. the extent to which an individual is likely to comply with fraudulent requests) was the level of self-control, regardless of the observed stage of a scam. On the basis of previous research, we postulated and have empirically shown that falling for a scam is a 3-stage process (i.e. assessing a scam to be plausible - plausiblity, responding to scammers - responded and, finally, losing utility to them – lost out). Taking this paradigm into account, we analysed the three stages in separate investigations and tested the viability of various psychological factors that play a role in them. We hypothesized that attitudes towards risky choices would play a role in finding an Internet scam plausible and thus started our investigation by transferring one of the classic economic psychological theories (i.e. Prospect Theory) into a virtual setting and demonstrated that risk preferences remain unchanged between concrete and virtual settings. Our investigation showed that attitudes towards risk are similar across virtual and concrete domains, but did not yield a reliable psychometric scale measuring risk preferences. As a corollary, in Chapter 3, we investigated psychological mechanisms that influence risky preferences as applied to all three stages of scam compliance. The empirical investigation in Chapter 3 of the present Thesis focused on social psychological mechanisms of persuasion. A scale of susceptibility to persuasion was developed, validated and then applied to the phenomena of scam compliance in two studies. Four reliable factors contributing to susceptibility to persuasion emerged: influence of authority, social influence, self-control and the need for consistency. The susceptibility to persuasion scale was then used to predict overall lifetime (study 1) and time-limited (study 2) scam compliance across the three stages of scams. Social Influence weakly predicted the plausibility stage in study 1, while strongly predicting the response stage in study 2. The need for consistency strongly predicted response stages in both studies. While compliance with requests from authorities did not predict responses to any of the stages in study 1, it weakly predicted the plausibility of a scam and strongly predicted responding to it in study 2. Weak self-control was a significant predictor of losing funds in study 1 and a strong predictor of responding to scams in study 2. As lack of self-control (as a personality trait) emerged as one of the significant predictors of scam compliance, this led us to infer that there were other personality traits that would contribute to understanding scam compliance. That became the topic of Chapter 4 of the present Thesis. In Chapter 4, we used the five factor model of personality, a brief self-control scale and the UPPS impulsive behaviour scale to measure the impact of personality traits on scam compliance in the response stage. Results showed that extraversion, openness, self-control, premeditation, sensation seeking and (negative) urgency had an influence on the response rates to fraudulent offers. Lack of self-control (as a personality trait) again emerged as a strong predictor of overall scam compliance, which led us to infer that self-control as a cognitive state would also contribute to measuring scam compliance in general and in specific types of fraud. The investigation reported in Chapter 3 showed fraudulent Internet auctions to be an effective scam. As a consequence of these two findings, in Chapter 5, we investigated the impact of self-regulatory fatigue on compliance with fraudulent Internet auctions. In the empirical investigation in Chapter 5 180 respondents in two groups were exposed to a cognitive task designed to be ego-depleting and then to a constructed fraudulent Internet auction. They were asked a series of questions concerned with the likelihood of them purchasing a desired item (i.e. the third stage of a scam) and its appeal to them. We found no evidence that lowered self-control (as a state) had any impact on the appeal of fraudulent offer or the likelihood of purchasing it. We also demonstrated that the perception of risk in the fraudulent Internet auctions is most strongly influenced by the feedback mechanisms and the sellers’ ability to use correct English. In the conclusion to the present Thesis we discussed the implications of our empirical investigations and constructed a fictional fraudulent offer that would be effective according to our research. It should, for example, be based on the advance fee schemes and should be delivered over the Internet to reach the most potential victims. Once we had created an outline of an effective scam, we used that as our starting point to suggest mechanisms that would be effective in resisting it. For example, individuals could employ heuristics in a better way or conduct reality checks; and software toolkits that would help in resisting scams could be developed on the basis of our findings. We also discussed future research directions (obtaining larger samples, focusing on specific types of scams and specific populations; and others) and general implications of our findings.

This thesis is an investigation into the unique rural banking system in Ghana and the role of information systems in fraud control. It presents a robust information security and internal control model to deal with fraud for the banking system. The rural banking industry has been noted for poor internal control leading to fraud. This has resulted in poor performance and even the collapse of some banks. The Focus of the study was on the processes used to deliver banking services. To design a protection system, a number of rural banks were visited. This was to understand the environment, regulatory regimes and the structure and banking processes of the industry and banks. Systemic vulnerabilities within the industry which could be exploited for fraud were found. The lack of structures like an address system and unreliable identification documents makes it difficult to use conventional identification processes. Also the lack of adequate controls, small staff numbers and the cross organisational nature of some transactions among other cultural issues reduces the ability to implement transaction controls. Twenty fraud scenarios were derived to illustrate the manifestation of these vulnerabilities. The rural banking integrity model was developed to deal with these observations. This protection model was developed using existing information security models and banking control mechanisms but incorporating the nature of the rural banking industry and culture of its environment. The fraud protection model was tested against the fraud scenarios and was shown to meet the needs of the rural banking industry in dealing with its systemic vulnerabilities. The proposed community-based identification scheme deals with identification weaknesses as an alternative to conventional identity verification mechanisms. The Transaction Authentication Code uses traditional adinkra symbols. Whilst other mechanisms like the Transaction Verification Code design v internal controls into the banking processes. This deals with various process control weaknesses and avoids human discretion in complying with controls. Object based separation of duties is also introduced as a means of controlling conflicting tasks which could lead to fraud.