Expert Professional Advice

Kroll Predicts Corruption Costs Could Total $500 Billion Worldwide, as FBI Braces for Next Wave of Financial Fraud Tied to Stimulus Spending
3:00a ET June 22, 2009 (Business Wire)

Government stimulus funding totaling $5 trillion has unintentionally introduced new opportunities for fraud and corruption worldwide, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Global Fraud Report. The report reinforces the global risk consultancy’s consistent call for greater transparency and compliance among organizations worldwide, and coincides with FBI Director Robert Mueller’s recent announcement that corruption and fraud tied to stimulus spending may be the “next wave” in financial fraud cases.

Data from Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, puts into perspective the heightened risk brought on by today’s financial crisis. According to the coalition, corruption can raise procurement contract costs by at least 10% in a stable economy – an equivalent of $500 billion in corrupt gains – but in emergency situations those costs can rise as high as 30% of the overall cost of the contract.

Blake Coppotelli, senior managing director in Kroll’s Business Intelligence and Investigations practice said:

“Governments need to be aware of the significant risk of corruption that coincides with stimulus funding. Federal and state agencies controlling the distribution of these funds need to enhance their already stretched resources to oversee and enforce robust anti-corruption policies or look to independent experts to supplement their efforts. They also need to make sure that vendors receiving funds have strong anti-corruption initiatives and compliance programs, and are screened and monitored throughout the process.”

Government spending is often targeted by fraudsters, because the nature of the projects – large sums of investment coupled with complex procurement processes – provide both the motive and the means for opportunists to take advantage. And with the equivalent to Japan’s annual national output being plugged into the economy in fiscal stimulus packages set by world leaders at the G20 London Summit, the opportunity to fraudsters has become significantly more attractive.

Richard Abbey, managing director in Kroll’s Financial Investigations practice said:

“All crimes need motive, means and opportunity and in the current economic environment, we have all three. The unprecedented amount of financial support that governments have pledged to help stabilize their economies leaves the door wide open to fraudsters. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity for those engaging in corrupt practices to cut themselves a large slice of the pie and it’s important that governments and businesses alike are aware of the risk and are prepared to counteract them.”

The Kroll Global Fraud Report addresses these rising concerns and offers guidance to governments in tackling corruption:

1. Tendering processes should be as transparent as possible, including – but not limited to – the distribution, receipt, and use of funds, and the procurement of contracts paid for by these funds. 2. Agencies and vendors should be held accountable for instituting and/or complying with transparent processes. 3. Government investigators and regulators must be properly resourced with budgets that enable them to root out corruption. 4. Rewards should be provided to officials who deliver projects successfully and appropriate salaries should be used to discourage bribery.

About Kroll

Kroll, the world’s leading risk consulting company, provides a broad range of investigative, intelligence, financial, security and technology services to help clients reduce risks, solve problems and capitalize on opportunities. Headquartered in New York with offices in more than 65 cities in over 33 countries, Kroll has a multidisciplinary team of approximately 4,000 employees and serves a global clientele of law firms, financial institutions, corporations, non-profit institutions, government agencies, and individuals. Kroll is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC), the global professional services firm.

The Global Fraud Report, Issue 9, June 2009 is available upon request and at http://www.kroll.com/fraud.

SOURCE: Kroll

The program consists of guides and video tutorials that give you step-by-step instructions that have already been published on the web. It doesn’t work – avoid! Here’s what is offered:

Module 0: Money Now Siphon

In this module, you’ll get a seventeen-page guide/manual that discusses instant cash programs – clickbank. No secret. They don’t have great products – mostly hype.

Module 1: Guru Launch Siphon

This module consists of one 50-page guide and three video tutorials plus a website template. There is a discussion of products to promote, how to target keywords that sell and how to get web pages on the first page of Google results (everybody offers this – and it doesn’t really work).

Module 2: Paid Forever Siphon

There is one seventeen-page guide and two video tutorials in this module plus a spreadsheet template to help you track your progress. The video tutorials cover the same information as the manual but in more detail.

Module 3: Pay-Per-Click Siphon

This module has one manual and four video tutorials focusing on PPC methods (many other sources have published this information and it does require an ad budget to test the methods).

Module 4: Free Money Siphon

In this module, one manual and two videos discuss CPA = Cost Per Action/Acquisition. This approach has been discussed online and there are some complaints – you need web traffic to use this approach – really CPA is not much more than capturing some data/information that a customer provides even if there is no sale (and selling the info to marketers).

Module 5: The Secret Siphon

This module is two manuals and three videos for advanced Internet marketers. It discusses promoting and selling Big Ticket items online. The discussion involves
-locate the items
-research the market
-find the one keyword that sells
-analyze the competition

No secrets here – it’s partly the same kind of info going around since 2004/2005 regarding online marketing.

Bad review:
(This is the funniest brutally honest commentary about the money siphon system) – everyone else is trying to promote the fraud to get their money back and turn a profit… it may have a high refund rate because it doesn’t offer anything special and doesn’t live up to the sales claims. I’m posting a little info from an honest reviewer who returned it:Thursday, April 2, 2009
Selling Digital Products through Clickbank is Tough
So here’s the breakdown so far with MSS:
I sold 10 products. Out of those 10 products, 9 got refunded. Here’s the lesson I’ve learned that MSS doesn’t really teach: you have to find products to sell that don’t suck, which can be tough if you’re using clickbank.Tuesday, February 24, 2009

60 Day Money Back Guarantee
Because of my disappointment with MSS, I got my money back. …I find myself spending more and more money the more I read, and not seeing the returns… What I’m saying is that it did not meet up to my expectations – the sales page and testimonials were a bit misleading as far as I’m concerned.Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Truth comes out AFTER you buy the product
You look for that money back guarantee. Then a message comes back to you:
“Ok, I wasn’t completely straight up with you in the sales pitch, but would you have bought the product if I was? Here’s the real deal – for most people, most of this stuff won’t work your first try, or your second or third try, or ever. But I promise you, if you pleeeeez just keep trying and trying and trying (and not ask for your money back), I swear on everything that is holy – you’re bound to make money doing something I show you – try it again, and again, and again. Try it for at least 61 days, please.” Why? Because by then you won’t qualify for the 60 day money back guarantee.Monday, February 9, 2009

MSS in a Nutshell
Module 1: Try some of this and some of that, do it this way, and if it doesn’t work, try it that way. Go here, here and there, and buy this thing and that thing. Mix it all together in the right way, and you’ll be on your way to the top in clickbank.Module 2: Do everything you did in Module 1, but do it this way and that way so that you can get paid every month. Throw in a little bit of this thing and that thing, and buy one more thing. Or do it for free…whatever you want to do, the world is yours.

Module 3: If Module 1 and Module 2 didn’t work for you, you can always lose more money on PPC and AdSense. Here’s how to do it.

Module 4: Ready to get freaky and psychedelic?

Module 5: Why waste your time with the first 4 modules when you can start making some real money… But make sure you have at least 2 years of experience in modules 1-4 first.

Not very good… the author uses the term secrets too frequently and there’s no reason to believe there’s any reason to make that claim. Curious? Well, you won’t be for long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6-haj7GTA

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (this topic has already been covered by psychologists that look at exceptional performance)

Improving performance to a high-level requires concentration… always has, what would anyone expect to find? If you are curious… here’s a question from the last chapter: “What would cause you to do the enormous work necessary to be a top-performing CEO, Wall Street trader, jazz musician, pianist, courtroom lawyer, or anything else? Would anything? The answer depends on your answers to two basic questions: What do you really want? And what do you really believe? What you want – really want – is fundamental because deliberate practice is a heavy investment.”

The reason it gets left until the end… research doesn’t change human nature and the thousands of hours required to achieve exceptional performance.

Here’s a great review of the book from a reader… he clearly points out the reasons where the book falls short and ranks it: Avoid.Frivolous lawsuit sketch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI2-DfbHXtQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6sFYVEDxU4

Another post regarding running and evolution…

With stocks, those who promoted the investment business sold you the idea of a wonderfully tailored garment of future affluence and future protection, maybe they seemed to have one like it, and you walked around the marketplace in your cheesecloth until the period of heavy rain, black rain, dissolved the idea of your protection.

(Why are you working so hard?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TPUb3BXt2g

1 Skip the first thing and many other things that aren’t making a meaningful difference. Stop attempting to keep ideas in your mind about what you have to do and when you have to do it. Question your identity. I suggest you do that weekly. Use an idea-capturing tool, something to write or record things on, whenever they occur to you. You need something that is always with you.

Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits

18 typical excuses are presented:

1. It will be difficult
2. risky
3. take too long
4. create family drama
5. I don’t deserve it
6. it’s against my nature
7. I can’t afford it
8. no one will help me
9. it hasn’t happened before
10. I’m not strong/smart enough
12. I’m too old/too young
13. the rules/laws won’t let me
14. it’s too big
15. I don’t have the energy
16. I don’t have the time
17. it’s in my family history
18. I’m afraid.

The second section lists principles for overcoming excuses:
– awareness
– alignment
– now
– contemplation
– willingness
– passion and compassion

Then you ask yourself questions…

Why did I buy another book about how to fix my life?

Ha!
What the author doesn’t consider is that the identities of some people are based on their excuses and if you were to take away their excuses there would be little left. If it was easy to overcome your false self and inconsistencies you would have done so by now, another book probably isn’t going to help. My suggestion, create a new identity for yourself breaking all links to the nearly futile existence you now inhabit. Of course, you have to balance when to use any new identity, but it’s going to be a thrill or vacation from the stuffy life you now lead. A new identity, the essence of its power is derived from being completely different than what you have going on now.