BBF069: How a Whistle Blower uncovered 22 million in Fraud with Sylvain Mansotte

How A Whistle Blower Uncovered $22 Million In Fraud

It is said that fraud accounts for an average of 5% of any company’s revenue, so the process of whistleblowing is certainly something that ought to be taken seriously. You might think that it’s not going on in your business, but Sylvain Mansotte’s story is living proof of just how much fraud can happen if no one has the courage to blow the whistle. He unearthed a scam that had been going on for 12 years that was worth $22 million – the largest corporate fraud in Queensland’s history.

Sylvain’s experience inspired him to create an app to make it easier for people to blow the whistle on corruption. His app, Fraudsec, is aimed at any organisation of any size, and provides total anonymity for whistleblowers, as well as allowing for completely anonymous interaction between the whistleblower and their employees. Sylvain explains in the podcast how the system scrubs IP addresses and uses QR codes to ensure there is no awkwardness in the whistleblowing process, and he also shared some useful info about fraud that every business ought to know:

** 20% of fraud worldwide is over $1 million per case.

** The average fraud is over $150,000 per case.

** Employees setting up fake suppliers and generating invoices for them is easier than you think.

** Don’t forget how fearful people will be about blowing the whistle.  If you don’t have a mechanism in place that retains their anonymity, they will probably not want to come forward and risk their job and sometimes their family life.

** Management should have a proper policy relating to fraud.

** Each new employee should be made aware of the above policy.

** Training should be done at least annually to make sure all policies are adhered to, and to strike fear into anyone who might be thinking of breaking the rules.

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

** The inner workings of http://www.fraudsec.com

** The scale of the fraud problem worldwide

** The importance on anonymity in the whistle-blowing process

** How to implement a whistle-blowing policy

** How Fraudsec is particularly useful in the procurement function

Resources mentioned in this episode:

** Business Coaching (http://actioncoachanz.com/businessrich)

** Fraudsec (http://www.fraudsec.com)

** Facebook (www.facebook.com/businessbrainfood)

** Business Brain Food Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood)

** Twitter (https://twitter.com/bfewtrell)

** ActionCOACH (http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes)

** ActionCOACH (http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher)

The statistics speak for themselves: this could be going on in your business, right here, right now.  If $20 million can go missing in 12 years from a business that had an annual spending budget of only $6 million, then it can happen to anyone.  Don’t let it be you!! Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers, Ben Fewtrell [phone]