Businesses can use Lawsuits to Fight and Prevent Fraud

Sept. 2, 2011 - PRLog -- Atlanta, GA - Fraud is a growing problem for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Each year organizations ranging from small businesses to giant corporations lose billions of dollars to fraud. Fraud is getting worse as sophisticated scam artists using the latest technology increase the size and scope their crimes.

To make matters worse, many of these criminals operate overseas where they are beyond the reach of American law enforcement. Organized gangs of fraudsters are now reported to operate out of countries such as China, Russia, Nigeria and Estonia. It can be difficult to track these people down and often hard to hold them accountable.

The crimes they perpetuate against companies include accounts payable fraud, accounts receivables scams, embezzlement, insurance fraud, invoice scams, bank fraud, identity theft and computer hacking to name just a few. Unfortunately law enforcement can have a hard time locating and prosecuting such individuals particularly if governments overseas refuse to cooperate.

One option that U.S. businesses have is to file lawsuits against such criminals in American courts. Even if the funds stolen cannot be recovered, the criminals can be held accountable for their actions. If they have funds or assets in the US, the court can seize them. If any person or organization in the US is helping the criminals, their assets and funds can be seized in the lawsuit. It might even possible to sue foreign governments that are helping or shielding fraud artists.

Because lawsuits are public record, such lawsuits can also generate negative publicity and embarrass the foreign government involved. Such publicity can alert other businesses to the existence of the scam and warn them to avoid getting ripped off. It can also trigger settlements or repayments of lost revenues in order to “make it go away”.

Filing such a lawsuit is a new or novel idea. In the past, Americans have sued foreign nationals, foreign corporations and foreign governments and won. In 2010 for example, New York lawyer Howard Fensterman sued a number of parties in Abu Dhabi on behalf of a group of American investors that had $18 million stolen from them while trying to start an insurance company in the United Arab Emirates. This lawsuit embarrassed the UAE government by insinuating that the Persian Gulf Country was not a good place to do business.

Contact:
Mike Smith
440 Andrews Ave
Atlanta, GA 30301
920-343-0980
onlinemerchant@gmail.com
http://lawsuitmatters.blogspot.com/