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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 1995 Topics
Downsizing, Take to the Cleaners, Come Clean,
Interpol, Three Card Monte, Weed, and BOLO
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Manufacturers of grocery
products and office supplies
use downsizing schemes and hope consumers
won't realize the products are more expensive.
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Fraud In Other Words
Professional Jargon
and Uncensored Street Slang
by Larry C. Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA
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Downsizing
Maintaining the same size
package for a manufacturer’s product and maintaining the same retail price
for the package, but reducing the contents of the package. The
manufacturer may be complying with laws by using small print on the
package to disclose the actual weight or count of the product inside.
However, the consumer may be unaware that the contents of the package have
been reduced since their previous purchase. The manufacturer hopes that
the consumer will not notice that the product is consequently more
expensive. Downsizing is a common marketing practice in the grocery and
office products industries. The same size candy wrapper now may
contain a smaller chocolate bar. The same size cereal box now may contain
fewer ounces of flakes and rainbow
 colored
marshmallows. A can of coffee may no longer be full to the brim. A roll of
toilet paper used to have 350 sheets, but now has only 280 sheets. A box
which used to hold 50 envelopes now only contains 40. When a manufacturer
is successful in downsizing, competing manufacturers also downsize their
product to increase their profits. Manufacturers use the downsizing
deception because they know that consumers are highly sensitive to package
price increases. To protect themselves from downsizing and to improve
their purchasing power, more consumers and businesses should compare
prices per unit (instead of per package) when they are shopping.
Photo: Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal,
December 10, 2004.
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Take to the Cleaners
To dupe or defraud or devastate someone. To wipe someone out
financially. This is a common term among gamblers.
 The
phrase may have started when commercial laundry and dry cleaning
establishments became popular. All contents of the pockets of garments
were removed prior to cleaning; but money, rings or other valuables
sometimes were not returned to the owners of the garments.
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Come Clean
To confess. To tell the whole truth.
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Interpol
Interpol is a contraction of "international police." “Interpol” was
the telegraphic address chosen for the headquarters in 1946. It
 serves
176 member nations. Interpol was established in 1923 in Vienna, Austria.
The headquarters are now located near Paris in St. Cloud, France. It is a
clearinghouse to exchange information about international criminals. This
data-collection agency focuses on counterfeiting, forgery, narcotics
trade, smuggling, and terrorism. Bureaus of Interpol are located within
member countries. They may investigate crimes and apprehend criminals at
the request of another country, but each bureau must act in accordance
with the laws of the country the bureau is located in. Criminals may be
returned to another country only if the offender is a national of the
country requesting the return, and an extradition treaty exists. On the
official emblem, OIPC stands for Organisation Internationale de Police
Criminelle, and ICPO is an acronym for International Criminal Police
Organization. The official name is ICPO-Interpol.
http://193.123.444.14/interpol.com/english/intro1.htm.
Photo: Interpol, http://www.interpol.int/, April 29, 2005.
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Three Card Monte
This scam is similar to the traditional shell game. The victim is
initially permitted to win over and over, building his confidence and the
size of his bets, before he is cheated out of his money. The fraudster
uses three marked playing cards, shuffles the deck and asks the victim to
select a specific card such as the Ace or the Queen of Hearts. The cards
are marked on the back in some way that is recognizable to the shuffler.
Sometimes the cards are marked by feel, such as a folded edge, a scratch,
a stain, a pinhole, or a small tear. The hands of the fraudster are
usually quicker than the eyes of the victim.
Photos: Andru Luvisi,
http://goodtricks.net/three-card-monte.html, 2002.
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Weed
To steal a large quantity of merchandise piece by piece. To steal a
small portion of a large quantity of anything in such a way that the loss
will not be noticed. A fraudster may take more than his fair share of
stolen goods or money before distributing the remainder to his
co-conspirators.
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BOLO
An acronym for “Be On the
Look Out.” This police radio slang term may be followed by a physical
description and possible location of an alleged criminal.
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Larry C.
Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA,
has been an
audit director, financial controller, federal investigator, and forensic
consultant. He publishes the book and online editions of “Fraud In
Other Words.” His Web site is www.larry-adams.com. His e-mail address is
fraudwritr@aol.com.
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ã
Copyright 1995 Larry C. Adams.
All rights reserved.
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This article is in the
September 1995 issue of the Arizona Fraud Line and reprinted in the
February 1996 issue.
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Fraud In Other Words
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