A person or business owner may feel driven to criminal activities because of financial difficulties. The presence of certain indicators may provide insight into the extent of these problems.
Types of indicators:
(1) decrease in resources and/or increasing financial demands
(2) credit problems
(3) questionable behaviors suggesting a tendency to fraudulent activities
Decrease in Revenue or Increasing Expenses
|
Individual |
Business |
|
decreasing income |
decreasing revenue |
|
recent or current lawsuits |
recent or current lawsuits |
|
loss of job |
loss of key customers or contracts |
|
expensive home or costly rental agreement |
expensive lease or rental agreement, expensive building |
|
|
increased competition |
|
expensive lifestyle (multiple homes, new cars) |
increased costs (production costs, new technology, expansion) |
|
increasing health care costs |
rising employee benefit costs |
|
recent gambling losses |
failure in new products (business gamble) |
|
|
excessive spoilage or defects in products |
Credit Problems
|
Individual |
Business |
|
bounced checks |
bounced checks |
|
low or overdraft cash balances |
low or overdraft cash balances |
|
pays only with cashier's check or money order |
large or frequent cash transactions |
|
credit limit imposed by lenders |
credit limit imposed by lenders |
|
unable to pay utility bills, with interruption in services |
unable to pay utility bills, with interruption in services |
|
increased borrowing |
increased borrowing |
|
frequent orders cash on delivery (COD) |
frequent orders cash on delivery (COD) |
|
bankruptcy |
bankruptcy |
|
owes back taxes |
delinquent or late tax deposits |
|
rising debts |
business losses in past years or rising debts |
|
divorce |
loss of key employees |
|
delinquent loans |
delinquent loans |
|
|
large or numerous overdue accounts payable |
|
personal expenses paid with corporate funds |
personal expenses paid with corporate funds |
|
change in lifestyle to less affluent behaviors |
cutbacks in benefits |
|
cancellation in memberships to social organizations or clubs |
cancellation of sponsorships or memberships in organizations |
Questionable Behaviors
|
Individual |
Business |
|
prior insurance claims |
prior insurance claims |
|
use of photocopies instead of original source documents (multiple claims) |
use of photocopies instead of original source documents (multiple claims) |
|
exaggeration of losses in fire or robbery, false insurance claims |
exaggeration of losses in fire or robbery, false insurance claims |
|
claims of renovations never performed |
claims of renovations never performed |
|
|
numerous bank accounts |
|
|
multiple sets of books |
|
|
failure to record depreciation |
|
|
double payment of bills |
|
|
property has frequent change of ownership preceding a fire |
|
|
duplicate sales invoices |
Specialty: Clinical Laboratory
ICD-10: ,
