Current Events > Holy shit, I just discovered MAJOR fraud at my new job

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think I've told a few people on here already, but recently I started a new job as a staff accountant at a fairly large company.

Yesterday I had some downtime so I was playing around in the ERP, familiarizing myself with the system and all of that, when I noticed something kind of strange. For a few transactions, I found that they were being listed twice. When a transaction would go through, one account would be debited, which makes sense, but as I dug a little deeper I found that (in that same exact transaction) another account would also be credited.

I thought to myself, ok, maybe this is some sort of glitch, the kind of thing that would probably get cleaned up at month end or quarterly or whatever. But as I dug deeper, I found something even worse - this isn't just happening for a few one-offs, the company has been doing this on every single fucking transaction; the books are getting cooked with duplicate & identical entries. After discovering this, I immediately rushed to the bathroom and threw up. I told my boss I was not feeling well and left work early. I barely slept last night.

Now it's the next day and I'm not really sure what to do. There is an anonymous fraud line I can call but I'm afraid that this is not truly anonymous, and I'll get fired from this job & potentially blacklisted from the industry. However I am even more worried about the consequences if I continue to work here, am complicit in this fraud, and then we get found out during an audit or something.

What do you guys think? I feel sick to my stomach again just thinking about all this.
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what is this companies ticker on the nyse?

rip tc
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Save concrete proof to a USB stick and send screencaps to a throwaway email you make with an VPN

Put in 2 weeks notice

Send anonymous letter to president of the company with a little info and a screencap

Ask for a reward for taking down fraud and saving face of company

Profit

Fired and blacklisted?

Haven't you seen any of these movies with the same scenario? They kill you.
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Assume its not fraud and report it to your supervisor in writing. Say you assume its a mistake and are trying to clarify it. That will create a paper trail to cover you.

There may also be some other reason for these accounting entries that are just not obvious.
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Holy shit, this is like the most obvious form of fraud out there. Like, even a layman like myself has seen this happen on TV shows and shit, lol. Id feel sick, too.

Le_seul_eudi posted...

what is this companies ticker on the nyse?

lmao
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Admiral is correct.
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Romulox28 posted...

What do you guys think?

I think you have an ethical obligation to report the fraud.

Find out who runs the fraud report hotline, making sure it's a third party and not in-house. Gather your receipts. Make copies. And spill the goddamn tea.
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@Complete_Idi0t
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hollow_shrine posted...

And spill the goddamn tea.

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Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?
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Posting in topic that will be included as evidence.

synth_real posted...

Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?

It sounds weirdly familiar.
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It looks like you ran into a Pacioli scheme. It's one of the more common schemes out there. For the time being just gather evidence. Once you have enough, take it to your supervisor and imply that you have found an error. Hopefully he or she isn't in on it to because you'll have more safety in numbers and more authority with the supervisor on your side.

That said, be prepared to have a lawyer involved. They might try to punish you.
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Sounds like serious double entry accounting scamming...

hollow_shrine posted...

Romulox28 posted...

What do you guys think?

I think you have an ethical obligation to report the fraud.

Find out who runs the fraud report hotline, making sure it's a third party and not in-house. Gather your receipts. Make copies. And spill the goddamn tea.

And don't call the fraud hotline with a number that's obviously yours like your work phone. My dad's one friend did that that years ago and his employer found out and retaliated. He eventually won in court, but it was a major pain for him.
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synth_real posted...

Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?

yes.
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Is this pasta, i swear this is pasta
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The Admiral posted...

Assume its not fraud and report it to your supervisor in writing. Say you assume its a mistake and are trying to clarify it. That will create a paper trail to cover you.

There may also be some other reason for these accounting entries that are just not obvious.

I'm worried to bring it up to my supervisor because I fear he might be complicit as well. I highly doubt there is some reason you'd need to list the same transaction twice in two separate accounts.

Compsognathus posted...

It looks like you ran into a Pacioli scheme. It's one of the more common schemes out there. For the time being just gather evidence. Once you have enough, take it to your supervisor and imply that you have found an error. Hopefully he or she isn't in on it to because you'll have more safety in numbers and more authority with the supervisor on your side.

That said, be prepared to have a lawyer involved. They might try to punish you.

Shit, I vaguely remember hearing about Pacioli schemes when I sat for the CPA. I've already begun copying over the entire GL onto a flash drive, I'll bring this to the authorities when I feel I have enough info gathered. I can't believe this is my real life tbh.
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Compsognathus posted...

It looks like you ran into a Pacioli scheme. It's one of the more common schemes out there. For the time being just gather evidence. Once you have enough, take it to your supervisor and imply that you have found an error. Hopefully he or she isn't in on it to because you'll have more safety in numbers and more authority with the supervisor on your side.

That said, be prepared to have a lawyer involved. They might try to punish you.

Wait, now this wiki entry actually makes what OP describes seem like a legitimate method of accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping_system
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Yikes at people falling for this troll topic
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this is like one of those mediocre moves from the mid 90s
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Tag
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WaterLink posted...

Complete_Idi0t

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SK8T3R215 posted...

Yikes at people falling for this troll topic

To be fair how many people are familiar with different accounting methods?

I only know what this is because someone mentioned double-entry bookkeeping the last time this was posted ?_>
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Wait.

What.

Um...can someone maybe explain a little more clearly for me here? TC says that in every transaction, there's a debit to an account and a credit to an account? Uh, yeah. That's what an accounting entry is. >_>

I need this scam explained better to me.
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pinky0926 posted...

Is this pasta, i swear this is pasta

gb's own, iirc
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Lmao, Admiral claims to be a big finance guy, but doesn't know about double entry accounting, which i GUARANTEE a finance person would know exists.

Debits on the left, credits on the right, BABY
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Okay thank you looks like people were agreeing while I was typing my post.

This isn't A method of accounting, it's like, THE most popular method of accounting. This is how accounting software works.

So this is a copy pasta troll topic and a surprising amount of people fell for it then?
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Yeah I have zero background in accounting but isn't credit one account and debit another like extremely normal

I also discovered a duplicate entry.

This topic.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping_system

lol
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lol this again
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Well I gotta say this has honestly been a pretty amazing topic.

Can you imagine a guy actually doing all the stuff people said to do in here? Gathering "evidence" and putting in your two weeks notice, actually quiting your job, and presenting the evidence to authorities? Oh man thatd be nuts.
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Drpooplol posted...

Lmao, Admiral claims to be a big finance guy, but doesn't know about double entry accounting, which i GUARANTEE a finance person would know exists.

i assumed he was just playing along
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I've definitely seen this thread before
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synth_real posted...

Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?

Its the accounting equivalent of .999=1
Actually no its simpler than that
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Dihydrogen monoxide type shit lol
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I've seen this dumb pasta before, but is double entry accounting commonly known? I'm in finance, idk if that's something everyone else would know about.
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spanky1 posted...

Wait.

What.

Um...can someone maybe explain a little more clearly for me here? TC says that in every transaction, there's a debit to an account and a credit to an account? Uh, yeah. That's what an accounting entry is. >_>

I need this scam explained better to me.

Congratulations. You, alone, have cracked the code
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Romulox28 posted...

Drpooplol posted...

Lmao, Admiral claims to be a big finance guy, but doesn't know about double entry accounting, which i GUARANTEE a finance person would know exists.

i assumed he was just playing along

sound like he's trying to give you legitimate advice, to me.
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Do you work at Dunder Mifflin?
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Alpha218 posted...

spanky1 posted...

Wait.

What.

Um...can someone maybe explain a little more clearly for me here? TC says that in every transaction, there's a debit to an account and a credit to an account? Uh, yeah. That's what an accounting entry is. >_>

I need this scam explained better to me.

Congratulations. You, alone, have cracked the code

Why did I get singled out here? >_>
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synth_real posted...

Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?

I feel like we have about a month or 2 back.
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Jiggy101011 posted...

synth_real posted...

Haven't we seen this exact same topic before?

I feel like we have about a month or 2 back.

it was a lot longer than that
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Romulox28 posted...

After discovering this, I immediately rushed to the bathroom and threw up. I told my boss I was not feeling well and left work early. I barely slept last night.

This is fake right?
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