Steve Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
UTICA, N.Y., April 28 As the worlds of finance and technology become more
intertwined, the results also are breeding a new kind of criminal: one who
sees opportunities for fraud in this brave new world of money. But a New
York college is preparing students who will chase paper trails in file
cabinets and in cyberspace in order to catch the crooks.
HERE IN THE pastoral setting of upstate New York farm country, college
students are learning about the wicked ways of big-city economic crimes. At
Utica College of Syracuse University, students who show interest in problem
solving, math, accounting, computer science and criminal justice are
synthesizing those skills for use in the real world.
Theyre doing so under the tutelage of Dr. Gary Gordon, co-founder
and director of the Economic Crime Investigation Institute, a 10-year-old
bachelors degree program the only one of its kind in the country thats
preparing fraud investigators for the new century.
But these detectives may not necessarily work in law enforcement. And
theyre not just focusing on criminal justice courses. Like the fraudsters
they hope to catch, these students are immersing themselves in several
disciplines to get ready for the next financial crime wave. And for students
headed out into the business world, awareness of financial crime is rapidly
becoming a pre-requisite.
If youre (doing business with) people who are doing money
laundering or people who are involved in organized crime, Gordon told one
of his classes recently, and you are not due diligent, that is you dont
look at your client base, then you are in violation of several laws and some
corporations can sue you.
Gordon's students learn the ins and outs of cell phone fraud and insurance
crime by tracking hypothetical cases.
In a typical class, students work to track down a hypothetical worker
s compensation fraud case by tracing the relationships between fictional
companies, attorneys and claimants. About 30 students a year learn the ins
and out of credit card rip-offs, cellular communication fraud, computer and
Internet security in industries like banking and insurance. Gordon says the
demand for his graduates is greater than ever.
Fraud issues have become large enough to tap the bottom line, he
said. And once that happened, people really had to pay attention to
developing fraud units and becoming pro-active and not just reactive.
Gordon claims 100 percent placement for his ECI students after
graduation, and not just for various state attorneys general or federal law
enforcement agencies. Some of the top names in corporate America have hired
his novice fraud chasers; the list includes AT&T, Sprint, Mastercard, Chase
Bank, Motorola, and insurance companies like New York Life, The Hartford,
and The Prudential. The verdict is in, says Gordon: the program has been a
success.
They seem to be able to step right in to the organization, he said,
and make a contribution right from the beginning.
Joseph Williams
Sometimes they contribute before theyre even on the payroll.
Graduating senior Joseph Williams, while at the Hartford Insurance Group
doing research for his senior project, was asked to take a look at new
software to analyze fraudulent claims cases.
I looked at the software and said we used this at college, and they
were very surprised, said Williams. I was able to help them fix their
problems and display their charts so they were pretty happy. So they asked
me to come to work for them during summer break.
Mike Decker
Mike Decker, another senior, heads off after May graduation to
Nebraska to work for a credit card companys fraud detection unit.
I came to the program because its the only one of its kind, he
said. I had an interest in criminal justice and I had an interest in
technology, and this program allowed me to marry the technological aspects
with the investigative aspects that interest me.
And its the technological aspects that pose the greatest challenge
to Gordons curriculum. With computer and Internet security issues
firewalls, encryption, etc. changing rapidly, Gordon relies on graduates
working for companies and students interning there for the latest
developments. He also has been personally invited into the deepest levels of
the corporate world, which, ironically, makes him something of a security
risk.
In fact, I know far more than I probably should about the operations
of many corporations, he said. But they have been very gracious and
obviously see the returns for them in terms of turning out students who have
these kinds of skills and step into these organizations at an entry level
and hit the ground running.
Gordon hopes to add a masters degree in economic crime investigation
this fall.
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Lifes a beach and I'm on it, Jah Wobble.
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