Oh My Fraud

Caleb and Greg discuss the case of a small California city tainted by big corruption. Sponsors SafeSend - https://ohmyfraud.promo/safesend The Small Business Research Institute - https://ohmyfraud.promo/ceanow interVal - https://ohmyfraud.promo/interval (00:00) - Introduction to Bell, California (01:38) - Discussing Salaries in the Accounting Profession (07:02) - The Rise of Robert Rizzo (13:22) -...

If you’re jonesing for some nostalgia, then this is the Oh My Fraud episode for you. Caleb and Greg discuss two stars—an athlete whose fame peaked in the 80s and a singer-songwriter who put out one of the biggest selling albums of the 90s—who helped define their respective decades. Unfortunately, their wild success also made them targets of people they trusted to help manage that success.  Sponsor...

What do the Catholic Church and Oh My Fraud have in common? They both regularly feature absent internal controls, important figures abusing their positions of trust, and are run by people who drink wine on the job. In this episode, Caleb and Greg chronicle the story of a high-ranking cardinal who wound up in a convoluted real estate deal. Sponsors The Small Business Research Institute - https://oh...

Join Caleb and Greg on a twisting saga of an insurance company that began in the late 1950s, rose to spectacular heights in the 1960s, and came crashing down in the 1970s. Sponsors The Small Business Research Institute - https://ohmyfraud.promo/ceanow Bean - https://ohmyfraud.promo/bean (00:00) - With Friends Like These Who Needs Enemies (01:34) - Life Insurance Policies (05:20) - Case Introductio...

You’ve probably heard of pyramid schemes, but are you confident that you know what it is? And if you are, do you know the difference between them and multi-level marketing companies? Or Ponzi schemes? In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss all that and more about one of the simplest and most common frauds around. Sponsors MakersHub- https://ohmyfraud.promo/makershub RightRev - https://ohmyfraud.p...

Legend has it that when asked why he robbed banks, the infamous 20th century bank robber Willie Sutton said, “Because that’s where the money is.” In the 21st century, banks still have the money, but the approach to robbing has changed considerably. Caleb and Greg discuss one such case that features astonishingly deceitful methods. Sponsors MakersHub- https://ohmyfraud.promo/makershub RightRev - ht...

As a co-teacher of Stanford University’s Introduction to Cybersecurity course, Riana Pfefferkorn regularly had to guide enterprising students away from violating the law. And it was one of those laws, the federal wire fraud statute, that initially caused her to connect with Caleb and Greg. In this conversation, the three of them discuss Jeff Skilling, cybersecurity, hacker movies, and more. Sponso...

Gambling is often a factor when a person perpetrates a fraud, sometimes to a shocking degree. Caleb and Greg discuss one such case involving a finance professional who went to extraordinary lengths to change his bad luck. Sponsors MakersHub- https://ohmyfraud.promo/makershub RightRev - https://ohmyfraud.promo/rightrev Settle - https://ohmyfraud.promo/settle HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 min...

More than four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, stories of regular people and their ill-fated schemes to exploit pandemic aid programs continue to emerge. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss some of the cases featured in the 2024 COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force Report. Sponsors G-Accon - https://ohmyfraud.promo/gaccon Keeper - https://ohmyfraud.promo/keeper Blue Onion - https://o...

Think you’re too smart to be taken in by a fraudster? If so, that may make you an even bigger mark. In this episode, Caleb and Greg speak with psychologists Dan Simons of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Chris Chabris of the Geisinger Research Institute. Dan and Chris’s new book, “Nobody's Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” goes deep on why we’re all potential v...

The US Postal Service has long been the butt of jokes for poor service, but nothing that comes close to this. In this transatlantic episode, Caleb and Greg unpack the story of hundreds of British subpostmasters whose lives were turned upside down when they were falsely accused of stealing from the Post Office.  Sponsors G-Accon - https://ohmyfraud.promo/gaccon Keeper - https://ohmyfraud.promo/keep...

In many episodes, Greg cites statistics from “A Report to the Nations,” the biennial report on occupational fraud, from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. As luck would have it, the most recent edition dropped in 2024, and so naturally, Caleb and Greg took the opportunity to discuss it. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE af...

We all have childhood dreams. Not all of us get to make them come true. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss the story of Frederick Darren Berg, who as a boy, developed a fascination with buses, and made them central to multiple ventures in his career. Sponsors Webgility - ohmyfraud.promo/webgility  HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting C...

Whistleblowers are essential to discovering fraud. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, more than 40 percent of frauds are discovered by a tip or whistleblower. In this episode, Caleb and Greg talk to one for the first time on Oh My Fraud. Anthony Menendez, “The Accountant Who Beat Halliburton,” recounts his saga as a whistleblower, and shares the many lessons he learned alon...

Everyone dreams of winning the lottery. Some may even fantasize about trying to game the system. But only a very small few actually have the opportunity to tip the odds in their favor. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss an audacious scheme to rig the Iowa lottery. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode...

Chances are, you probably remember a massive fraud from the late 2000s that created a media circus. Just maybe not this one. In this episode, Caleb and Greg delve into a saga of Allen Stanford, the mastermind of a convoluted, multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Sponsors Airbase - https://ohmyfraud.promo/airbase  HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASB...

Hollywood loves a sequel, so Caleb and Greg return with two more stories of celebrities who fell victim to fraud. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate. Down...

Cleaning dirty money may be as old as money itself. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss the history of money laundering, from ancient China to Prohibition to the greatest American political scandal of the 20th century. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look fo...

During the Reconstruction era, legal, social, and political change was pervasive throughout the United States as it recovered from the Civil War and the end of slavery. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss the effort to help newly emancipated people with a service most of us take for granted today—banking. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accou...

Caleb and Greg recount their favorite swindles, interviews, and culprits from the year that was Oh My Fraud 2023.  HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate. Dow...

Public schools are the foundation of American education, and few were better than Roslyn High School in Nassau County, New York. The school’s success was largely due to one man, its ambitious superintendent, Frank Tassone. But when Frank’s key lieutenant is caught up in a scandal, it threatens everything, even Frank. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approv...

A savvy Texas lawyer who’s made a name for himself defending people accused of drunk driving and marijuana possession tries his hand at high-end extradition cases involving Colombian drug lords. What could go wrong? Everything. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and lo...

Professor James Park’s new book chronicles the history of securities fraud in the US, and oh, what a history it is, featuring some of the most infamous episodes in American business. In this episode, Caleb and Greg talk with Jim about some of the notable cases in his book, whether executives or underlings actually bear the responsibility for wrongdoing, if everything truly is securities fraud and...

Who’s the last person you’d suspect of committing fraud? Your grandmother? A good friend? Someone who always seems to be thinking about how they can help others? In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss a case where someone checks all of those boxes. HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobil...

Certified Public Accountants are some of the most hard working, trustworthy advisors in our society. But you don’t listen to Oh My Fraud to hear about them. In this episode, Caleb and Greg discuss a CPA who used his position as a trusted advisor to swindle millions.  HOW TO EARN FREE CPE In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode....