Dive Brief:
- A former buyer for Apple’s global supply chain has pled guilty to allegations that he conspired to defraud the technology giant of more than $17 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Nov. 1.
- Between 2011 and 2018, the former employee defrauded Apple by “taking kickbacks, inflating invoices, stealing parts, and causing Apple to pay for items and services never received,” DOJ said. He also admitted tax fraud resulting in a loss of more than $1.8 million for the IRS.
- The former employee pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., carrying a maximum of five years. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 14, 2023.
Dive Insight:
Occupational fraud, a term used to describe fraud committed by workers against the organizations that employ them, is one of the most common forms of financial crime in the world, according to a 2022 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
The ACFE’s analysis of more than 2,000 cases of occupational fraud committed between January 2020 and September 2021 found that the schemes resulted in a loss of more than $3.6 billion, with the average loss per case exceeding $1.7 million. Of cases in the U.S. and Canada, only 13% of victim organizations recovered all of their losses, while one-third made a partial recovery, according to the ACFE.
Aside from occupation fraud, HR teams also may need to prepare workers to avoid potential fraud perpetrated by criminals external to the organization. Earlier this year, a survey by email security firm Tessian found that more than 1 in 4 employees said they fell for a phishing attack. More than half of those who fell for the attacks said they had done so because their attackers impersonated senior executives, Tessian said.
HR practitioners themselves may be the target of fraud. In June, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning of an increase in complaints regarding the use of stolen personally identifiable information and “deepfakes” to apply for jobs. Positions targeted included those with access to customer data, financial data, corporate information technology databases or proprietary information, the FBI said. Sources who previously spoke to HR Dive advised employers to pay additional attention during video interviews and exercise due diligence in conducting background checks and other such processes.
