Fraud Awareness Week 2024

This Fraud Awareness Week (17-23 November) the CFC are bringing you real-life case studies, to show some of the personas that are commonly used by fraudsters and to help you to recognise what to look out for.

Join us for this years’ Fraud Awareness Week webinar series, to hear from a range of guest presenters and to remember that fraudsters are lurking, are you looking?

If you're in the public sector and would like to register for these webinars, email the Counter Fraud Centre team at counterfraud@sfo.govt.nz. 

Case: The High Price of Plumbing 

Monday 18 November - 1.30pm-2.45pm (please note change of time from Wednesday and Friday)

In 2018 Kainga Ora laid a complaint with the New Zealand Police alleging ongoing fraudulent practices by one of their sub-contractors. Later that year the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) of the New Zealand Police identified significant assets related to the over-charging for work completed for Kainga Ora. This unlawful benefit, along with ‘large scale tax evasion’ led the ARU to obtain a settlement that saw the Court order Mark Hughes of Jamark plumbing to pay $2.2m in lieu of his unlawful benefit received.

In this webinar, Stuart McIntrye from the ARU will provide insight into this case which saw swift action taken by Kainga Ora to ensure the protection of public funding from further misappropriation. Stuart will look at the Asset Recovery Unit’s investigation and how it led the ARU to uncover criminal activity that identified the methods of multiple fraudster personas.

Presenter: Stuart McIntyre (Asset Recovery Unit) 

Case: Road to Corruption

Wednesday 20 November – 12pm - 1pm

In 2021 the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) charged five people for corrupt behaviour in the provision of road maintenance contracts in South Auckland. The contract manager at Broadspectrum (Jason Koroheke) accepted gifts in exchange for awarding work and submitted false invoices to obtain significant benefits for himself. Mr Koroheke authorised invoices (both real and fake) for three of the co-accused who worked as sub-contractors along with the former Broadspectrum maintenance manager. The subcontractors used the money they were paid to provide gifts to Mr Koroheke in the form of cash, goods or services.

In this webinar Fabian Herzog, Senior Investigator, and Angus Graham, Senior Investigating Lawyer from the SFO will discuss the Koroheke case and provide insight into the various fraudulent schemes employed by the five offenders. In their discussion of the various methods, they will identify several of the fraudster personas that were evident in this case. 

Presenters:

• Fabian Herzog, Senior Investigator (SFO)
• Angus Graham, Senior Investigating Lawyer (SFO)

Case: The Face of Fraud is Changing

Friday 22 November 12-1pm

Chris will discuss a range of fraud and corruption cases in Australia which highlight common and preventable actions revealed through the lens of the fraudster personas. These cases look at examples of frauds against the Australian public sector entities, including Roads and Maritime Services, Family Day Care Programme, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. They highlight that fraud and corruption committed against the public sector isn’t a victimless crime, instead impacting on numerous people and groups in our communities. 

Presenter: Chris McDermott (Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre, Australia)