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When your bookkeeper has all  the control… your bank account becomes their playground. For this week’s Fraud Friday, I’m resurfacing one of the most important cases I’ve covered, as too many small businesses still make the same mistake: One person handled the books. The deposits. The bank statements. The vendor payments. And over time… tens of thousands quietly disappeared. Here’s the real warning: Fraud doesn’t start with a mastermind. It starts with access + trust + zero o

Last week, I had the honor of standing alongside Palm Springs Mayor Ron DeHarte as he presented an official Proclamation declaring November 16–22, 2025  as International Fraud Awareness Week  in the City of Palm Springs. The proclamation was issued publicly during the DBA Learns workshop: Outsmarting the Scammers , a session led jointly by Matt Howe and me as part of the Desert Business Association’s education program. It was a powerful moment, not just for us as presenters,

You trust your vendors. They deliver materials, provide services, and send invoices. In theory, you pay them in a timely manner and all is well. But what if one of those invoices is fake? Or the vendor is colluding with one of your employees to overbill you month after month? That’s vendor fraud. It's one of the most common, costly, and least-detected  types of business fraud. The losses aren’t always obvious, but over time they drain profits, distort financials, and quietl

Churches and nonprofits run on trust. That’s exactly why fraud can hide in plain sight. When one person controls donations, bookkeeping, and reconciliations, it isn’t “helpful”. It’s high risk. Here’s how embezzlement happens, what boards miss, and a simple oversight checklist you can put in place this week. A (very real) pattern we see One person handles donations + deposits + accounting Bank statements arrive to that same person No second set of eyes on reconciliations Boar

By Michael Blevins, CFE — Blevins Associates Consulting When Fraud Comes From the Outside We often talk about fraud as an “inside job,”...

By Michael Blevins, CFE — Blevins Associates Consulting Fraud Isn’t “Somewhere Else” - It’s Right Here in Southern California When most...

Fraud is a word we hear often, but not all fraud is created equal.  At Blevins Associates Consulting, we specialize in helping...

Have you ever had that gut feeling something just isn't right within your own business? After working with dozens of business owners,...

Fraud is a pervasive issue that affects businesses of all sizes. However, incidents involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)...