Anatomy Of A Fraud

Most fraud victims clam up. In this check-tampering case, the victim-a small-business owner-decided to speak out. The resulting cautionary tale offers a rare, detailed look into the mechanics and psychology of fraud. And its aftermath.

In fact, jackson had been indicted and arrested on charges of continuing theft in April 2003. He was accused of defrauding the Salvation Army of $38,800 using eight checks. (The Salvation Army's chief accountant in Baltimore, William Smith, declined to comment.) Jackson missed that week of work at The Rosen Group in late April apparently because he was in jail. According to court documents in another case, Jackson posted bail with a Rosen Group check.

Meanwhile, Hodgson was discovering that Jackson had allegedly committed fraud in the Army. The letters of recommendation he had provided to Spherion and The Rosen Group used the names of real military personnel but contained uncharacteristic language and misspellings; the letters were possibly forged. Con artists know that the value of reference letters is not their content but rather their mere existence. What's more, military references are "really hard, sometimes impossible to check up on," says the executive at another Baltimore area temp firm. Also, a source familiar with his case says that Jackson, in interviews, would smile and mention that he just got back from Iraqa statement that caused interviewers to trust him more.

The Rosen Group itself hadn't picked up on the inconsistencies in the reference letters. But then again, as far as Wendy Rosen could tell, neither had Spherion. Something was building inside Rosen. The alleged fraud at the Salvation Army aggravated her. So did the fact that Spherion hadn't refunded her placement fee. Adding to that, her bank wasn't helping recoup costs on the Lexus. She was dealing with insurance companies. Her staff was still shaken by the ordeal. She was still trying to run a business.

As stressors piled up, Wendy Rosen fixed on restitution. In October, she would seek it with a vengeance.

Trust

koletar, the author, says that there are three ways to steal money: by force, by stealth or by trust. Fraud is theft by trust, and in many ways it is the most profane kind of theft. Our instincts train us to believe that people are inherently good; fraud uses that belief against us. What's more, in a small office like Rosen's, everyone tends to share a passion for the cause for which they work. A grifter will happily espouse the business's ideology in order to gain still more trust. Jackson likely exploited two more facts that apparently resonated with Wendy Rosen: He was in the military, and he is black. Explaining the case earlier this year, Rosen said, "When you find someone who is African-American, who is professional and well-spoken and on your side, you are so ecstatic...and the fact that he has a military background. You just didn't want to believe anything else."