Hotline helps fraud whistleblowers
A free online fraud hotline, thought to be the first of its kind, was launched today with the aim of making it easier for employees to report financial scams discovered in the workplace.
Launched by fraud investigator Forensic Accounting, the website is intended to allow employees to make secure and, if necessary, anonymous reports of financial deception.
Raj Bairoliya, managing director of Forensic Accounting, said his hope was that the hotline would stimulate debate about why most frauds were uncovered only when it was too late.
‘The experiences of whistleblowers are not very good. With our website you can be properly anonymous. And if you can be a whistleblower anonymously you are more likely to do it,’ he said.
A company subscribing to the service is issued with a password for employees to access a secure website to make reports. Forensic Accounting then provides an evaluation of the information received.
Bairoliya said the start-up costs were such that it would need only two or three subscribers to buy further services to make the website pay commercially.
Forensic Accounting, which views its service as an experiment, did not estimate how many users might be attracted to the website.