Who’s the Twit?

Read an interesting article in Newsweek about ghostwriting of blogs and even Twitter posts (often called “tweets”).  In fact, the article mentions  recently launched UK company Twit4hire as example of a professional microblogging firm that can be hired to post as many as 20 tweets a day on your behalf.  As an investigator or researcher, remember not to assume that someones name on an article, blog post, or other online publication means that the content is actually written by them.  Trust but verify.

Fake Receipts

‘Tis the season for returning merchandise.   There are a number of websites that have popped up recently offering software to produce fraudulent or false receipts for merchandise.  Some websites even offer to produce copies of your custom receipt, printed on thermal paper and are billed as “100% authentic looking.”   FalseExpense.com offers such a service.  Although the site indicates the service is for novelty use only, clearly customers can misuse these fake receipts.  This is clearly a concern for investigators in the retail space but also in insurance claims.  Other tools like CustomReceipt.com allow users to create and print their own fake receipts.  Other variations on the theme include fake chiropractic reports or fake doctor’s notes (for the UK and Australia).  With the advent of inexpensive software and printing options, it’s become very easy for people to produce authentic-looking reports.  Investigators should not rely solely on the “look and feel” of a document, report, or receipt for purposes of determining authenticity.  Rather, such documents should ber verified whenever possible.