www.colettesymanowitz.com

You need to take governance seriously, or it could cost you your investors. ESG (environmental, social and governance) concerns have become a dealbreaker for investors worldwide, according to PwC’s 2021 Global Investor ESG Survey. Companies that don’t act on ESG issues could lose investors.  https://blog.fraudcracker.com/companies-that-dont-act-on-governance-social-and-environmental-esg-issues-could-lose-investors/

Thanks to ACFE SA for the incredible opportunity today to present on ‘Corruption: can we stop the gravy train?’ at the ACFE SA national conference. At the start of my talk, 58% of the 600+ attendees felt we could not beat corruption, while only 35% of you felt we could. Hopefully, after my talk, you’re now more hopeful about the impact we can make if we work together, and use our votes and our voices to slash corruption in South Africa.

Some very controversial ideas and great questions. Thanks to everyone who attended. And a big thank you to ACFE SA for all their hard work to make the conference a success. Not easy in times of Covid but you guys did a great job! #ACFE#ACFESA#weCANbeatcorruption https://blog.fraudcracker.com/corruption-can-we-stop-the-gravy-train-acfe-sa-conference-talk/

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Ben and his team run a great site called Threat.technology. You can stay ahead of the latest cyber threats with their articles on the latest advancements in information security. FraudCracker has also been featured in an article on their site. Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/threat-technology-article-fraudcracker-and-ethicsdefender-make-it-safe-to-report-wrongdoing-and-fraud-in-organizations/

Do your employees feel safe speaking up about wrongdoing? Find out why not, and what you can do to improve this https://blog.fraudcracker.com/do-your-employees-feel-safe-speaking-out-about-abuse-and-discrimination/ #whistleblowing

Tomorrow 23-June is World Whistleblower Day. A big thank you to the people with the courage to speak out against corruption, fraud and wrongdoing! https://blog.fraudcracker.com/thank-you-to-all-the…/ #WorldWhistleblowerDay

The Guptas’ state capture cost South Africa nearly R50 billion. But it could be even more. Read more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/guptas-state-capture-cost…/ @paybackthemoney

_{Image courtesy of https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-24-the-totalish-cost-of-the-guptas-state-capture-r49157323233-68/}

Why don’t we speak out when we see wrongdoing? And how do we overcome this urge to do nothing? Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/why-dont-we-speak-out-when-we-see-wrongdoing/ #bystandereffect #whistleblowing #intention_actiongap

Speaking up at work can be very difficult, even if you know it’s the right thing to do. So how do you do it? Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/speaking-out-when-it-matters/ #speakupspeakout

Safety Detective recently interviewed FraudCracker to find out how our ground-breaking tech helps people report fraud anonymously and still get rewarded. Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/fraudcracker-interviewed-by-safety-detective/ #antifraud #anonymousreporting

FraudCracker has made it onto Cyber Defense Magazine’s list of the global top 100 cybersecurity startups for 2020! Read more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/fraudcracker-among-global-top-100-cybersecurity-startups-for-2020/

Proof that Gupta companies laundered government money from the Estina dairy project, plus Transnet locomotive deal kickbacks, may be locked deep inside 17 U.S. banks. A landmark decision has given the vault keys to the IDC. Read more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/u-s-court-grants-idc-access-to-gupta-financial-records-from-17-global-banks/

Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/bosses-demand-women-dress-sexier-for-video-calls/ #notOK

To narrow the pay gap for Black and female employees, leaders can take 1 simple step: stop asking job seekers about prior pay. Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/stop-asking-job-seekers-about-prior-pay/ #salaryhistoryban

Corruption is a massive problem worldwide with deep social, political and economic costs. But it isn’t unbeatable. We can beat corruption, and countries have done it. Find out how they did it, the anti-corruption models that work, and what the lessons are for South Africa. Join this eye-opening talk given by Colette Symanowitz of FraudCracker, as part of the SABS ACFE SA webinar on 1-Sep-2020. Or RSVP by email to invitations@sabs.co.za https://lnkd.in/gix4i39 https://lnkd.in/g9wSa2j

In South Africa, the fight against corruption is finally leading to arrests. On 17-Aug-2020, the Hawks arrested 5 Free State government officials. This makes 7 arrests so far in the corruption, fraud and money-laundering case linked to the infamous Vrede dairy farm case and the Free State Department of Agriculture, under the leadership of controversial ANC politicians Ace Magashule and Mosebenzi Zwane.  https://blog.fraudcracker.com/5-government-officials-arrested-in-fraud-case-linked-to-vrede-dairy-farm-and-department-of-agriculture/ #anticorruption #Hawks

Globally, women are setting the bar on how to lead effectively in a crisis. Countries with women leaders have had 6x fewer Covid-19 deaths than those led by men, and will recover sooner from recession. Yet the global average for women in national parliaments is only 25%, and female representation on boards is still low worldwide. Will the positive results in the pandemic make us more willing to have women leaders? https://blog.fraudcracker.com/will-we-see-more-women-leaders-because-of-the-pandemic/ #womenleaders

The party created by former Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba, The People’s Dialogue, has corruption-busting at the top of its agenda. Find out more in his open letter to South Africa at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/mashabas-peoples-dialogue-party-to-hit-corruption-hard/ #hitcorruptionhard

Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/rhino-dehorning-project-in-south-africa-tackles-poaching/ #rhinodehorning #SouthAfrica #antipoaching

Bokang is making an amazing difference to the people around him every day. He recovered from a life-threatening brain tumour and needed many blood transfusions. Without your blood donations, Bokang wouldn’t be alive today, so thank you!

The SA National Blood Service is running low on stocks of blood. Please donate. Every 1 unit you donate saves 3 lives. Most of it goes towards mothers bleeding heavily during childbirth, cancer patients, babies and people like Bokang. SANBS is open 7 days a week as an essential service. You can donate in The Colony mall, Jan Smuts Ave, Randburg, Johannesburg. This week’s mobile blood drives are at Douglasdale Mall 09:30-17:00, Kyalami Corner 09:30-17:00 and Mall of Africa 09:00-17:00. Phone SANBS 0800 119 031 to make an appointment to donate. They’ll send you an SMS that you can show to the police if you get stopped during lockdown. Thank you!

CoronaCracker enables you to anonymously report violations of coronavirus regulations to SAPS, Dept of Health, Dept of Labour, etc. It’s free to the public and the SA govt, as our way of helping to stop Covid-19 spreading. To report a violation, go to http://www.coronacracker.co.za Help us keep South Africa safe by sharing this. Thanks!

https://blog.fraudcracker.com/rather-than-blaming-people-for-starting-corona-outbreak-lets-work-together-to-end-it/ #beatcoronatogether

US businessman Bill Browder went from Russia’s biggest foreign investor to its biggest corruption fighter. It was his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who paid the price. Since Magnitsky’s death in police custody, Browder has made it his life’s goal to prevent corrupt governments and people from moving their dirty gains offshore. This led to the Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to impose sanctions on foreigners suspected of human rights crimes, and enables bad guys like the Guptas to be punished worldwide. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/us-businessman-helped-make-life-hard-for-the-guptas/ #MagnitskyAct #BillBrowder #fightcorruption

Which of your employees is most likely to steal the big bucks from your company? Here’s where the Marquet Report on Embezzlement is especially useful as a profiling tool. Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/can-you-spot-the-potential-embezzler-in-your-company/ #embezzlement #MarquetReportOnEmbezzlement

South Africa’s Minister of Police Bheki Cele is not carrying out his constitutional responsibility to ‘prevent, combat… crime [and] to protect and secure the people of South Africa’. We’re talking specifically about Cele not protecting those brave enough to speak out against corruption. So why does President Ramaphosa keep him on as Minister of Police? Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/gambling-with-lives-government-not-protecting-corruption-whistle-blowers/ #stopcorruption #protectwhistleblowers

Ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and his company used NDAs to silence accusations about his sexual wrongdoing. But NDAs should not be used to stop someone speaking up about sexual harassment in the workplace. Find out why at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/ndas-should-not-silence-sexual-harassment-claims/ #MeToo #sexualharassment #NDA

Divergent, dissenting voices are vital for growth and innovation. But some leaders penalise employees who raise problems, afraid of what those messengers might be pointing out. By doing this, however, you stop your organisation from growing, and you also make it hard for others to speak up when they see problems or opportunities. For tips on how NOT to do this, go to https://blog.fraudcracker.com/dont-punish-employees-who-raise-problems/ #divergenceishealthy #listentoproblems

The WHO division spearheading the worldwide response to the coronavirus outbreak, is severely underfunded and battling to implement vital reforms. The entire WHO faces a rise in internal corruption allegations. To make matters worse, experts say the WHO’s initial response to the coronavirus, now called COVID-19, was too slow. Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/who-division-tackling-coronavirus-underfunded-and-facing-internal-corruption-allegations/

South African laws and regulations outlining the standards for sex offences courts were published on 7Feb2020 and implemented on 31Jan2020. These courts can now bring much-needed relief and justice to victims of gender-based violence https://blog.fraudcracker.com/south-africa-now-has-vital-laws-for-sex-offences-courts/ #sexoffencescourts

Does my company need a tool for employees to report fraud, and do these work? Definitely yes. Read this article to find out why. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/anti-fraud-tools-does-my-company-need-one-do-they-work/ #FraudCracker #fraudprevention #fraudawareness

The latest lethal strain of coronavirus arose at a wild animal meat market in Wuhan, China, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The market, now closed, was home to stalls trading wild animals such as pangolins, the latest suspect in the investigations. These outbreaks start in the murky waters between legal and illegal trade, where bushmeat and dodgy packages travel long distances on commercial routes, aided by bribes and legal loopholes. So corruption could well have triggered the coronavirus epidemic. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/did-corruption-trigger-the-coronavirus-outbreak/ #corruption #coronavirusoutbreak

When designing FraudCracker, a ground-breaking online fraud reporting solution for companies, founder Dr Gavin Symanowitz identified not only the main problems with existing solutions, but also the critical success factors that an effective fraud reporting mechanism should cover. In this article, he discusses anonymity, the first of these factors https://blog.fraudcracker.com/critical-success-factor-1-for-anti-fraud-tools-anonymity/ #anonymity #whistleblowers #fraud #wrongdoing

Confidence fraud, also called romance scamming, is on the rise. But the FBI is coming down hard on perpetrators. Get tips from the FBI on how to protect yourself from online romance scams. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/fbi-clamping-down-on-confidence-fraud/ #romancescam #confidencefraud #staysafeonline

October 2019 saw Ukraine’s Parliament introduce the “Whistle-blowers Law”. This gives far-reaching protection to people who blow the lid on corruption in the Ukraine. But the new law has also sparked heated debate. Will Ukraine’s new whistle-blower law punish innocent organisations? However, who needs protection more: the whistle-blower, or the business they are reporting on? Find out more at https://blog.fraudcracker.com/will-ukraines-new-whistle-blower-law-punish-innocent-businesses/

This article also appeared in Finweek Magazine in their 11-April-2013 issue

I love South Africa and am fiercely loyal to this country. We have so many opportunities here, much more than many other countries. But in 2013 I had an experience that made me deeply question my patriotism. Are we as South Africans losing our humanity? And more importantly, how can we get it back? Continue reading →

Today 9-December is International Anti-Corruption Day. Corruption hurts all of us. As much as we’d like to, we cannot ever stop corruption completely, because there is a lot happening that we don’t even know about.

But we can do something about it:

1. We can report it whenever we see it. In fact, this is why we started FraudCracker.com, to give you a voice in the fight against fraud and corruption, without anyone knowing your name.

2. And we can say no to corruption and wrongdoing when these happen in our daily lives.

It all starts and stops with us. Because our children see our behaviour today, and will behave the same way tomorrow. If they see us as parents offering or accepting bribes, or behaving unethically, then that’s what they’ll do tomorrow.

So starting today, International Anti-Corruption Day, let’s stop corruption while it’s still small and manageable. This is my challenge to myself and to you. Let’s say no to corruption and wrongdoing today, and stop the rot for our children tomorrow!

See the full post at https://lnkd.in/dCECQjs
#anticorruption #InternationalAnticorruptionDay

Great to see Eskom is finally fighting corruption. After lifestyle-auditing +/-400 execs, sr managers in 2019, Eskom to do this to 2,300 more staff in key units. Eskom to contract investigators to sift thru personal info (bank accounts, assets) of its staff’s families https://lnkd.in/dztsJnQ #corruption #lifestyleaudits

It’s great to see heads finally starting to roll in the fight against injustice and corruption in South Africa. The EFF has been hit with a double blow on the legal front, this after the State charged both their commander-in-chief, Julius Malema, and his deputy, Floyd Shivambu. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/the-state-charges-eff-leaders-julius-malema-and-floyd-shivambu/

Jet-setting fraudster Dr Ruja Ignatova created the perfect scam: a multi-billion-dollar con, her own fake cryptocurrency OneCoin, a cult–like recruitment drive and a lucrative pyramid scheme. OneCoin attracted over $4,5bn. But within a few months, Ignatova vanished. She is wanted by the FBI for one of the biggest frauds in financial history https://blog.fraudcracker.com/the-cryptoqueen-the-hunt-for-a-multi-billion-dollar-scam-artist/

It’s taken a long time, but corrupt politicians involved in South Africa’s state capture are finally getting punished. The Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team arrested ANC MP Bongani Bongo, a strong Zuma supporter. He appeared in court today on corruption charges, after he tried to bribe an advocate on the parliamentary commission of inquiry into Eskom’s state capture. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/anc-mp-bongani-bongo-arrested-for-corruption/ #corruption #arrest #BonganiBongo #bribery

Walls are shrinking for the corrupt Gupta clan. SARS head of legal, Refiloe Mokoena, has been fired. Mokoena allegedly granted the Gupta family a reported R420m VAT refund. https://blog.fraudcracker.com/sars-fires-legal-head-over-r420m-gupta-vat-refund/ #corruption #Guptas

https://blog.fraudcracker.com/lord-peter-hain-puts-foreign-governments-global-firms-front-and-centre-in-south-africas-state-capture/ #corruption #StateCapture