Plasticell Pty Ltd Fraud Student Case Study

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Yes. The documents and information reviewed and interviews conducted by the Fraud Examination Team during the course of the examination indicate that Jasmine Wright have involved in transferring property to PlasticsBolt Ltd and paying personal expense by the company card and cheque. The following is a summary of the evidence and information supporting the Fraud Examination Team’s findings:

On August 9, 2016, Plasticell Pty Ltd Fraud Risk Response team received a telephone call stating that David Smithson was giving improper favorable treatment to Promos Machinery which sells machinery parts to Plasticell as a vendor. He was claimed a part owner of Promos Machinery, since the director of Promos Machinery is claimed Smithson’s father in law, Ramon Urbos, who was a retired senior Philippines National Police Officer and is a director at Promos Machinery. The whistleblower also alleges that Smithson has also been involved in commercial bribery with local officials.

On August 10, 2016, an e-mail was reported which vaguely indicates interest relationship between David Smithson and Michael Brown, who is a UK expatriate sales representative with Promos Machinery. After receiving the hotline tip, the management at Plasticell Pty Ltd decides to conduct an initial assessment. The assessment uncovered facts that lent credibility to the whistleblower’s allegations. Consequently, the company’s management has decided to conduct a formal fraud investigation into the potential for fraud.

On September 2, 2016, an e-mail from David Smitson to Michael Brown, a UK expatriate sales representative with Promos Machinery, reported by James Neil revealed that David Smithson is a part owner of Promos Machinery. The email content was perfectly same with the one previously reported to the office.

Taking advantage of Maisie Guthrie’s absence, whose role is to collect and sort the mail, Mrs Barton achieved access to mails. On September 6, 2016, in sorting through the mail Mrs Barton came across two letters, one from the company bank, the NSW Admin Bank and the other from the company credit card vendor Maymex. The company credit card invoice for the month of August 2016, ending 31 August 2016, provided by Maymex indicated multiple charges to a cable TV company, Chanel clothing store and cash transactions. On the bank statement there are at least two large cheque payments of $15,000 and a cash payment of $1,000 a week during the month of August. Yesterday, Jasmine is witnessed by Mrs Barton leave the office with David Smithson to go to lunch and return carrying a Chanel bag. The next day Jasmine came to work with a new $4,000 Chanel handbag and, during a teleconference with the Philippines factory, one of the managers made an offhand remark about David Smithson showing off to staff his new Hugo Boss suit and Chanel tie.

On October 8, 2016, to compare the cheque and cash amounts on the statement with the company cheque books, petty cash and company cash disbursement files, Mrs Barton directed Jasmine to take four week leave commencing using reason that the company policy required employee a leave at least every two years. Because Jasmine has argued that no one else was able to use the Byzantine accounting system whilst she is absent, Mrs Barton this time was able to use ensuring Plasticell’s operations’ smooth running as a reason, to arrange to bring in a recently graduated accountant Toby Muir (a member of Fraud Investigation Team). Mrs. Barton told Jasmine that she can delay her annual leave for two weeks whilst she shows Toby the ropes so there is a efficient transition and no disruption whilst Jasmine is on leave. Jasmine continued to use various excuses so as to not allow him access to look at the general ledger. She had left the office early, taking all the keys to the lockers and safes holding the financial records. Therefore, Jasmine may be using that card to pay personal expenses, because she has sole use of the company credit card.

On October 10, 2016, we received more information stating that David Smithson has received money of kickbacks from a salesman at Promos Machinery and other suppliers for granting them preferred supplier status, and also by direct transfer into an Australian company called PlasticsBolts Ltd. He is also accused of receiving bribes from a number of NSW country suppliers who supply to the North Ryde shop-based premises. Furthermore, the information accused Jasmine Wright of similar corrupt acts and alleges she is part of PlasticsBolts Ltd and routes supplies through Plasticell. Another allegation is that Jasmine put out fictitious invoices. Invoices from PlasticsBolts during one enquiry had been seen by a member of us. A computer-based investigation in NSW and Manila was carried out to check the authenticity of these allegations.

On October 12, 2016, the Team member Shuan, the IT forensic expert, and a locksmith, was permitted by Mrs. Barton to check the head office at 7 am during the period Jasmine and Smithson are attending the Plasticell Conference in Brisbane. They checked every aspects of Jasmine’s office, including Jasmine’s computer’s open drives and ports to search for encrypted files. The entire hard drive was of Jasmine’s computer was then duplicated and evidence protection has been done. In his later forensic analysis Shaun was requested to:

- Review material such as metadata giving the timing and source of transactions, looking for unusual timings such as weekends, evenings, transactions grouped around period ends or entries to unusual accounts

- Review the Windows registry for suspect information

- Try the possible username/password on the Post It note attached to Jasmine's desktop or alternatively discover and crack passwords

- Keyword searches for topics related to the suspected fraud

- Extracting emails and Web site information for review

The locksmith opened Jasmine’s locked file cabinet. In the drawers was located a large pack of blank PlasticsBolt Ltd letterheads. A search of a file produced a completed invoice on the PlasticsBolt letterhead to Plasticell for plastic machinery parts. The invoice was marked to be paid to the account of Judy Watt, Manager, PlasticsBolt Ltd, Northpac Bank Account No. 553456. The heard of PlasticsBolt was unknown to Mrs. Barton and Plasticell had never been used PlasticsBolt as a supplier. A check of Australian Taxation (ATO) website revealed that PlasticsBolt had an Australian Business Number (ABN) and it was under the name of Judy Watt as sole trader. In addition, a number of TAB documents, including TAB betting tickets and a TAB account for the month of August