Page 293 - Deception at work all chapters EBook

346 An HR Guide to Workplace Fraud and Criminal Behaviour

In some instances, conmen are supported by violent criminals who will not hesitate to
maim or murder anyone who stands in their way. Sounds dramatic, but it happens.

SERIOUS AND ORGANIZED

A British company was approached by a scrap with another manager. The gang
group of organized and violent criminals then sued the victim company for breach
to buy its scrap products, which were of contract and produced false affidavits to
virtually worthless. The gang negotiated show losses of £5 million. They put pressure
with Freddy, who was a junior manager in on Freddy to support their claim and he
one of the victim’s factories, and paid him initially became a witness on their behalf.
personally £3000 in cash to ease the deal Coincidentally, when he lost his enthusiasm,
through. Without consulting his managers, Freddy was involved in a serious car crash.
he signed the contract. However, he did Although this had been a pure accident, the
not know that other members of the gang gang convinced him that he should take
who were posing as a competitive bidder the crash as a warning and his resolve in the
had signed a national contract to buy the gang’s favour was quickly reinstated.

Conmen can be really heavy

The hard facts
The fundamentals

There are some hard facts to remember about achievement lies and conmen. The first is that
you will be chosen as a victim not because they like your Hush Puppies and purple flared trou-
sers but because they believe you are a ‘soft touch’. You also have to accept that conmen live by
different rules from honest people. They are quite prepared to lie and cheat and then to move
on to new victims. Very seldom do they have long-term friends or business associates.

Conmen pick soft, gullible and vulnerable victims.
They live for the short term

Awareness and counter-surveillance
The second hard fact is that you should never underestimate the skill and determination of
conmen. The good ones seem to be able to react instinctively to any situation: or maybe it
is just practice. They use counter-surveillance techniques, including bugging the victim’s
telephone, accessing his computer and picking up trash thrown outside his office or house.
They are on the lookout for that tiny bit of information that adds to their advantage or warns
them that you are suspicious.

Good conmen always seem to have their senses finely tuned,
whereas the victims are blissfully unaware

A numbers game
The third hard fact is that you are likely to be one of many, possibly hundreds, of victims all
simultaneously suffering the same fate. The conman may not have a defined endgame but he
will know, from experience, that most victims fail to pursue their rights quickly enough or
with sufficient determination.