Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Fraud

What would you do if you got a free paycheck? You didn’t do any work for a company that deposited money into your bank account like clockwork… for nearly five years. Welcome to Anthony Armatys’s world. Anthony accepted a job with telecommunications company Avaya Inc. in 2002. But he changed his mind and never went to work for the company. Yet a recordkeeping error meant that he started receiving regular payroll deposits into his bank account until the error was discovered in early 2007.

All told, he received about $469,000 from Avaya and never whispered a word of it to the company. He also withdrew about $1,900 that was in a company retirement account. Now he’s being charged with one count of theft by deception.

What ever happened to doing the right thing? Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to steal money from a company for nearly five years? I’m sure there are some who can justify this in their minds… reasoning that the only victim is a big corporation. But we all know it’s wrong. Heck, I even give back the money when a cashier gives me a dollar too much change. Where have our morals gone?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Fraud

What would you do if you got a free paycheck? You didn’t do any work for a company that deposited money into your bank account like clockwork… for nearly five years. Welcome to Anthony Armatys’s world. Anthony accepted a job with telecommunications company Avaya Inc. in 2002. But he changed his mind and never went to work for the company. Yet a recordkeeping error meant that he started receiving regular payroll deposits into his bank account until the error was discovered in early 2007.

All told, he received about $469,000 from Avaya and never whispered a word of it to the company. He also withdrew about $1,900 that was in a company retirement account. Now he’s being charged with one count of theft by deception.

What ever happened to doing the right thing? Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to steal money from a company for almost five years? I’m sure there are some who can justify this in their minds… reasoning that the only victim is a massive corporation. But we all know it’s wrong. Heck, I even give back the money when a cashier gives me a dollar too much change. Where have our morals gone?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Record-keeping, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Filed under: Cards, Ripoffs and Scams

For the last ten years or so, credit card companies have been charging transaction fees on foreign currency buys, but most cardholders never knew. The fees were hidden in your conversion rate, and you were probably none the wiser.

Were you like me? I traveled abroad and used my credit card for everything. I was told this was the way to get the best currency conversion rate. Except when I got home and looked at my bill, the conversion rate didn’t look so hot. And this is the reason why…. the credit cards were charging me fees but hiding them in the conversion rate.

A class action suit was brought, and now we all have a opportunity to get some of this money back via the $336 million settlement. If you traveled abroad between 1996 and 2006 and used a Visa or Mastercard, you can get at least $25 back. You might get more if you’ve the right documentation.
You can do the simple refund of $25 if you had foreign transactions of less than $2,500. If you had more than that, you can get up to 1% of your estimated foreign transactions refunded to you if you answer a few questions and provide information on one of the credit cards you use. You might be able to get up to 3% of your transactions refunded if you had extensive foreign travel and you’re willing to provide information about your annual travels.

All the instructions are found here, and it seems worth a few minutes to get the $25. The higher refund options might also be worth your time, depending upon how much you spent abroad.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Record-keeping, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Richelieu Finance confirms talks with massive finance group - Forbes

Richelieu Finance confirms talks with massive finance group Forbes, Share This Share This No Comments » 21 01 2008 DIRECTV Group Announces $1 Billion Stock Repurchase Program Posted by: admin in Today News DIRECTV Group Announces $1 Billion Stock Repurchase Program MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal The DIRECTV Group, Inc. DTV announced today that its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to $1 New Device Expands Semtech High-Precision Sensing Platform For MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Semtech Corp. SMTC , a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced the SX8723, an Appian Announces Record Results for 2007 MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Appian, an innovative global provider of business process management (BPM) technology, today announced that results Dr. Rolf Witte Joins Scientific Advisory Board at NextGen Bioscience MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal NextGen Bioscience, Inc. (”NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NXGBE), a biotechnology company that develops novel therapeutic Iteris, Inc. to Present at Roth Capital Partners 20th Annual OC Growth MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Iteris, Inc. ITI , a leader in the traffic management market that focuses on the application and development of Cognos and Deloitte Strategic Alliance Delivers Integrated Performance MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Cognos(R) COGN (TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, and Neuf Cegetel Boosts Capacity with Ciena’s CN 4200 RS MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Ciena(R) Corporation CIEN , the network specialist, today announced that Neuf Cegetel has deployed the CN 4200(TM Atmel’s ARM9-Based MCU Supports Real Time ‘Smart’ Control Panels MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal AT91SAM9RL64 Integrates ARM926EJ-S with On-Chip LCD & Touch Screen Controllers, USB High-Speed Device, 64k Byte India’s stock index plunges 7.4 percent MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal MUMBAI, India (AP) - India’s benchmark index plunged 7.4 percent Monday, its second-biggest percentage loss ever JDSU Advances Polarization Component Customization for Broad Range of MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal One-of-a-kind Technology Combination Enables Higher Resolution, Sharper Focus, Enhanced Contrast and Former Tribune editor fired from L.A. Times Chicago Tribune - He predicted the company would “have more employees a year from now than we have today [but] it’s unlikely that all the deck Technology Auto news Columnists Stocks Your Money Entertainment • • • • • • • • • • Politics/Elections Travel Xilinx Adds Three New Devices to Award-Winning 65nm Virtex-5 Family to MSN MoneyCentral - For today’s top Money video click here News Providers Associated Press bizjournals.com Briefing.com BusinessWeek Wall Street Journal Made Possible by Modular ASMBL(TM) architecture, New Family Members Meet Cost, Density and Performance Share This Share This No Comments »

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