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It happened in April of this year; at least that’s when it began. A tiny pimple, one we should have paid attention to, showed up on our American Express Corporate Card bill. By June it popped; big, poisonous, ugly. Twenty thousand dollars worth of ugly.
On the advice of American Express, I visited our local police department to fill out the necessary report. The information was provided and the questions were answered. “What’s the name of your company,” the officer queried? “The John Cooke Fraud Report,” I responded, passing him a copy of the latest issue over the counter.
His eyes opened wide. He looked at the newspaper in front of him – one quite similar to the one you’re looking at now – and then … he laughed. Rubbing a bit of salt into the wound, he disappeared into the back room and fetched his sergeant. The two of them reappeared together and laughed some more.
“This is you and somebody just hit you for twenty grand,” asked the senior of the two chuckling officers as he pointed at our name?
Did I feel foolish? Yeah. Did I feel more foolish than the actual Joe Raspberry who learns the hard way what credit card fraud feels like? Yeah, probably that too. Police officers probably don’t chortle and guffaw when an enraged Joe fills out a counter report.
Can fraud happen to anybody? It can and it does. The proof is in that police report. The John Cooke Fraud Report done got frauded.
Three issues ago we changed our name. We added the word insurance to our title, thereby becoming The John Cooke Insurance Fraud Report (JCIFR). That little change cleared the way for The John Cooke Financial Fraud Report (JCFFR), the one you’re holding in your hand.
When the JCIFR debuted in May 1994, it was in response to a perceived need in the insurance industry. Our mission statement said it all, “Fighting Fraud Through Communication and Education.” Here were hundreds – no thousands – of insurance companies, each with a common problem. The crooks were ripping the companies off left and right, skimming billions of dollars a year from an industry, and each battle was being waged by single warriors. Some companies shied away from communication because of anti-trust concerns; others just didn’t know how to open up those lines. Investigators weren’t quite sure how District Attorneys thought; claims adjusters weren’t worldly when it came to how the Postal Investigators worked; the Department of Insurance employees didn’t know much about alternative sources of computer data and the computer data people were not in tune with the kinds of new products that would really help the insurance industry bust fraud wide open. Few talked and few worked together, yet in each war, the enemies were generally the same.
Our JCIFR mission was to build a bridge, one of communication, and if a by product of that mission was education, then so much the better.
About ten issues down the road, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a bank fraud investigator at an industry luncheon. It rapidly became apparent that the sameness between our investigative industries far outweighed our differences. The insurance fraudsters who were ripping off the insurance companies were the exact same people the bank fraud investigator was chasing down for ripping off lenders.
The bank investigator picked up a copy of the JCIFR. “I’ve never seen a publication like this geared toward the banking industry,” he said.
“If there was one, would it help?” I replied.
“Immensely.”
As our conversation continued, bits of bank investigative wisdom surfaced that seemed to be beneficial in insurance investigations … and vice versa.
The seed was planted. John Cooke was ready for a sister. Well, sort of.
It took a dozen or so telephone calls to banking industry sources around the nation to cement the sibling idea. And here we are.
What you see today is only a bare beginning. The John Cooke Financial Fraud Report belongs to you, the financial fraud fighting industry. Our future writers will be from your orders, our story lines will be those you request, our growth will be based upon the nurture you give us. In fact, it’s the same thing we said long ago to the JCIFR readers:
“John Cooke was born because of our ideas, but his future will be determined by your ideas.”
Our story board is growing daily. In upcoming issues of the JCFFR, we’ll be bringing you a wealth of information on data searches, unique investigative methods, new products and upcoming technology, fraud trends, legislative updates and general news.
We ask you to become a part of our future. There are three ways that you can help. First, become a subscriber – the subscription form appears on this page – and thereby assure you’ll receive our next jam-packed JCFFR. Next, realize that by supporting our advertisers, you support our efforts; those who choose to advertise within our pages are specialists in fighting fraud. Finally, contribute your energy to our future. We want your ideas and your input. Call us (714-571-0504); fax us (714-571-0536) or write us (777 South Main Street, Suite 152, Orange, CA 92868).
Remember, fighting financial fraud is everybody’s business, not just John Cooke’s.
© Copyright 1996 Alikim Media