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Larry C. Adams, CPA
Phoenix, Arizona USA
Certified Public Accountant
Certified Fraud Examiner
E-mail
fraudwritr@aol.com
Telephone (602) 995-8008
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September 2002 Topics
A posteriori, a priori, dénouement,
fat finger dialing, fat fingers trap,
knockoff numbers, google-ing,
mind
your p's and q's, and snollygoster
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This article is in the September/October
2002 issue of
The White Paper, the Journal of the Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners.
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Fraud In Other Words:
Professional Jargon and Uncensored Street Slang
By Larry Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA
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A Posteriori / A Priori
Two Latin phrases that describe how ‘cause
and effect’ conclusions are made based on opposite directions of logic. An a
posteriori finding takes the end result (effect) and then makes conclusions
about the cause. If you see footprints on freshly fallen snow, you may deduce
that a person recently passed by. An a priori finding takes preexisting
facts (causes) and then makes conclusions about the future effect. Based on
previous statistical evidence, you could have concluded that the New York Mets
baseball team of 1969 could not possibly win the league’s pennant, let alone the
world championship. Investigators and attorneys develop stronger arguments by
reviewing the facts of their case and testing both methods of reasoning.
William and Mary Morris, Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins,
HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1988, pages 20–21.
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Dénouement (Desnouement)
 Revealing the final solution of an intricate
scheme. The unraveling of a complicated plot or mystery. The end of an
investigation or a play at which point everything is made clear and no questions
or surprises remain. The conclusion of the case, based on the facts. The word is
derived from desnouer, an 18th century French verb meaning "to
untie the knot".
Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder,
Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, HarperCollins
Publishers, New York, 1998, page 163.
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Fat Finger Dialing (Fat Fingers Trap, Knockoff Numbers)
 Slang in the telecommunications industry for
the practice of misdialing or misspelling phone numbers. Fat finger dialing
scams take advantage of customers whose fingers are too large for the tiny
buttons on the telephones. Other victims include the disabled, the dyslexic, the
hearing impaired, children, the poor, and people who don’t speak English well.
For example, a customer might unintentionally dial 1 (800) COLLETC, 1 (800)
CULLECT, or 1 (800) CALLECT, instead of 1 (800) COLLECT. Class action lawsuits
have been filed against several companies that intentionally own knockoff
numbers that are just digits away from popular 1 (800) phone numbers. One
company owns 90 knockoff numbers to siphon off calls intended for competing long
distance carriers. Additional deceptive business practices include using gongs
or tones to answer the phone call that are similar to the ones used by major
phone companies. A recording or an operator quickly mumbles the brief name of
the company that sounds similar to a major phone company. The consumer is not
warned that the per-minute billing rate and a separate connection rate are three
or four times higher than the customer anticipated. The bill sends disputes to a
clearinghouse rather than a phone company. After a painfully long wait on hold
and a lengthy conversation, a partial credit may be offered, but not an amount
satisfactory to the consumer.
“Misdial at Your Peril; Lawsuit Highlights ‘Fat Fingers’ Trap for 800
Numbers”, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, May 17, 2002, http://newsjournalonline.com/2002/
May/17/NOTE7.htm.
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Google-ing (Googling)
Using a search engine, such as google.com,
to sort through billions of Web pages on the Internet to find specific
references about a subject. For example, an investigator can type in a person’s
name in quotation marks. From the search engine results, a history of the person
may emerge, such as their addresses, phone numbers, places of employment,
significant others, academic record, real estate holdings, criminal record,
newspaper articles, and other interesting facts for the investigator to follow
up on. Some people google their job applicants, bosses, doctors, and in-laws.
Fraudsters google potential victims. Google-ing is a big sport for students.
They google their own names, their friends, and prospective dates to see who is
the most popular and has the best “Google Number” (the highest number of Web
page matches). Other popular search engines use different page rank indexing
models, so those searches might produce supplemental results. Use caution in any
search; the results may be misleading when the Web page information is not based
on fact or when it is about another person with a similar name. Google is a
spelling variation of googol, which is a vast number equal to 1 followed by 100
zeros. Googol was coined by Edward Kasner (1878–1955), an American
mathematician.
Dennis McCafferty, “Is Someone Google-ing You?” USA Weekend, April 26-28,
2002, page 14.
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Mind Your P’s and Q’s
 This cautionary phrase comes from an old
practice in British pubs of tallying a customer’s purchases on a blackboard
behind the bar. A ‘p’ was written next to a customer’s name for each pint of
beverage sold, and ‘q’ for each quart sold. If a customer failed to pay close
attention and mind his p’s and q’s, he might not discover by evening’s end that
the barkeep had padded his tab. Today, this 16th century phrase still
reminds us to review all of our accounts carefully before paying them.
Evan Morris, The Word Detective, Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, 2000, pages 164-165.
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Snollygoster (Snallygaster, Snallygoster)
 A clever, unscrupulous person. A
shyster. A devious, inept, talkative, or unethical lawyer. A shrewd,
unprincipled person. A candidate who wants a political office, regardless of
party, platform, or principles. ‘Schnelle geeschter’ is the Pennsylvania Dutch
origin, meaning fast-moving ghost. American folklore describes a snollygoster as
a huge monster (half reptile, half bird) that preys on chickens and misbehaving
children and terrifies ex-slaves out of voting.
“Lawyer Jokes Etcetera: A Loathsome Miscellany”, http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/twh427/
miscellany.htm,
June 5, 2002.
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Larry C. Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA,
is an audit consultant and author in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a member of The
White Paper Editorial Review Board. Send your word suggestions to his e-mail
address: fraudwritr@aol.com.
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ã
Copyright 2002 Larry C. Adams. All rights reserved.
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