fraud that doesn't make the front page

     When someone steals millions of dollars, it makes headlines all over the country. I think most fraud, if you add it up, is done by hundreds of thousands of people who regularly steal hundreds or thousands of dollars. Take something as simple as employee paychecks, for example. Tens of millions of paychecks, every week of the year, every year. What if some of those paychecks are actually in the name of "dummy" or "ghost" employees? Employees who don't really exist. This could be done using the identity of anyone who doesn't actually work for the corporation involved in the fraud. Perhaps people are being paid every week without ever having been employed by the firm signing the paycheck.

inside jobs

     Fraud--I believe we are all surrounded by so much of it that we can't detect it any more. To notice all of the fraud around us would be like noticing the air--we can see the effects of the wind, but not the air itself. Every time I read about a lawsuit or court case I suspect fraud. I suspect that most fraud is an "inside job"-- that there is a willing participant employed by the corporation being sued. Someone who works for the defendant  gets part of the money when someone wins a fraudulent lawsuit, in plain terms. The accidents are real--and real people are injured--but most of the people who sue just have someone else's medical records, and a willing accomplice "inside"--one who can decide to pay a claim, and how much to pay.
     These aren't "victimless" crimes. Fraudulent lawsuits make everything more expensive, particularly insurance.