12 September, 2019
Fraud in the workplace is when an employee commits fraud against the company, which may cause a serious impact on its business.
Companies should be aware of fraud schemes to prevent harm arising from fraud in the workplace. In this issue, we will mention one of the fraud schemes that companies should be aware of, which is payroll fraud, also known as a ghost employee scheme.
A ghost employee is a type of fraud which may be done in the following ways. One is to have a fake employee who has never worked for the company set up into the payroll system. Sometimes, the fake employee may be a friend, a cousin, or even a family member of the fraudster. The company then has to pay a salary to the fake employee.
Another way to conduct a ghost employee fraud is that the payroll system still keeps the name of an ex-employee who used to work with the company but is no longer employed. Under this scheme, the company keeps paying salary to the employee who has left the company. These benefits finally revert to the fraudster in the workplace.
This is not only a violation of the company's code of conduct but also a criminal offense. The recovery of damages will take time and costs. That is why fraud in the workplace is expensive.
In the next issue, we will examine other fraud schemes and how to notice red flags which companies should look for in order to prevent fraud in the workplace.
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