ScanWriter’s data capture and analytic software solution sped up the investigative process allowing embezzlement charges to be filed and the case won in record time.
In recent years, several high-profile incidents involving the misappropriation of funds by public officials have placed law enforcement on high alert.
Investigators in federal agencies assigned to collecting, capturing and analyzing mountains of physical and electronic financial records require a solution that speeds up this process and provides analytics that stimulate sharper insights.
The success of this case illustrates the critical role played by ScanWriter, a software solution that speeds up the asset tracing process and provides visualizations of patterns, activities and relationships.
Data Integration and Analysis Tool Provides Quick and Precise Automation
A recent case charging a comptroller of a suburban city with the misappropriation of public funds illustrates the critical role played by technology in accelerating the embezzlement investigation process.
In this case, two defendants, including an elected official, misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of city revenue to spend on personal items and a re-election campaign.
The comptroller maintained a fake set of accounting books to hide his actions and, with the assistance of an accomplice who was listed as a contractor, paid invoices for work that was never done, thereby diverting city funds into their own coffers.
When a whistleblower sounded the alarm, the embezzlement investigation process of determining the total amount and method(s) of the misappropriation began.
The physical and electronic financial records collected included over 4,500 transactions and check images, and a total of 993 pages of bank statements and check data.
Converting this vast amount of material into normalized data on Excel would have taken over 74 hours if done manually.
The all-in-one data integration and analysis tool, ScanWriter, provided quick and precise automation for this otherwise laborious and time-consuming task.
ScanWriter processed these files in four hours without sacrificing accuracy. Ensuring both speed and precision.
Both hand-written and computer-typed, these thousands of documents were collected on CDs and PDFs and included bank statements, check images, wires, cash receipts and payroll reports.
ScanWriter captured the data and converted it to an organized Excel spreadsheet with dates, descriptions, amounts and more in assigned columns.
Since ScanWriter can also customize spreadsheet categories, investigators on this case used the function to create columns for monies going to specific names and accounts.
Investigative Team Stays on the Same Page
Various departments and stakeholders contributed to this investigation, and ScanWriter’s case manager made it possible for them to communicate, share insights and track developments in real time.
Instead of emailing the various stakeholders or searching through numerous platforms for updates, the fraud