Fraud professional taught how to use the power of the Internet as an effective investigative research tool to a packed house on Tuesday, February 12

TAMPA, Fla. – Feb. 12, 2013 – Kevin Connell, chairman of AccuScreen, spoke at a dinner hosted by the http://www.tampabaycfe.org/ ACFE Tampa Bay Chapter this past Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. Eastern at the Marriott Tampa Westshore. His session illustrated in “non-technical terms” the most current, comprehensive and cutting-edge Internet research techniques available today. Finding the needed information isn’t simply a matter of entering the right keywords into a search engine.

The presentation opened up with a “Tour of Fraud Sites,” screen shots of actual websites that are used by fraudsters to assist them in their fraud schemes. These “fraud enabling” websites gave the attendees an idea of the extent of the fraud that happens. The remaining part of the presentation focused on Open Source Intelligence techniques to prevent or detect fraud for the fraud examiner’s case.

Acquiring useful and relevant http://www.accuscreen.com/blog/ Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) requires much more than just the ability to surf the Web – many valuable sources of intelligence are unknown and untapped. Most people “don’t know what they don’t know” about online searching and miss far more relevant information than they find. Attendees were taught how to go “off the beaten track” and develop a new range of skill sets, the end goal of making attendees more effective and efficient online was definitely reached. This was the “kit and caboodle” of Internet research, presented in layman’s terms.

From http://www.accuscreen.com/blog/ employment background screening, due diligence and public record checks to more in-depth “hidden” or “deep web” searches, having advanced Internet research and investigative skills is an essential requirement at all levels of a business enterprise, especially those that investigate fraud. Finding deep and hidden websites that return key intelligence while being in compliance with the law and privacy consideration is a skill needed for the anti-fraud professional.
The session was augmented by tips, insider secrets, checklists, examples and “real world” case studies that will helped attendees with information that was once considered unavailable and unreachable. Many of the websites shared in the session are free, but are unknown to most of the general population. Connell also covered some of the paid online database vendors.

Attendees learned how to:
• Conduct due diligence using the Web efficiently and legally
• Find more information in less time when online, and make better sense of it.
• Create advanced searches on popular search engines, as well as Meta Search engines ( searching by using a combination of several search engines)
• Search public record sources
• Mine social networking sites
• Analyze the information and be able to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information
• Narrow research and focus on the best resources
• Locate information on an individual or business

Attendees left with:
1) A renewed confidence in their Internet search know-how
2) The ability to find more useful & relevant information in less time
3) An advanced ability to conduct web searches that are legal and compliant
4) A list of websites and search tools linked to intelligence collection objectives
5) Proven search queries
6) Checklists for each step in the process

After this session, the attendees were able to:
• Utilize the Internet as an effective investigative research tool
• Conduct advanced Web research for use in http://www.accuscreen.com/blog/ online background checks, due diligence and public record research
• Perform Internet recruitment sourcing
Connell’s presentation qualified for one hour of CPE (Continuing Professional Education) for ACFE members.