Wire fraud is a common method of theft by fraudsters.
Unlike with physical cash, these kinds of thefts can be perpetrated from the other side of the world. For this reason, companies may employ a bookkeeper to keep track of cash flow and discover any discrepancies. However, when the bookkeeper in this role is the fraudster, it can cause significant financial impacts.
According to an article published by the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Marc Weiss allegedly used his position as bookkeeper to commit wire fraud against two companies. From 2016 to 2022 Mr. Weiss allegedly made more than 120 fraudulent transfers totaling over $1.6 million from company bank accounts to bank accounts under his control. The fraud was then disguised with false entries to the company’s books as payments to existing vendors for different services. Mr. Weiss admitted in court the monies were used for personal expenses, high-end vehicles, and travel/vacations.
Allowing unsupervised access to multiple levels of reconciliation allows for schemes like this to go unnoticed. The bookkeeper who reconciles should not have access to initiate or approve withdrawals. In this case, the scheme could have been mitigated, but the lack of separation of duties allowed Mr. Weiss to allegedly misappropriate funds for six years.
Bookkeeper pleads guilty to wire fraud for $1.6 million embezzlement scheme | United States Secret Service. (2023, October 18). https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2023/10/bookkeeper-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud-16-million-embezzlement-scheme
Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki
