06 November 2018 
Emma Keenan, Procurement Specialist
I recently took on the responsibility for coordinating and providing counter fraud information to our membership. The huge range of information Matt Sisson handed over left me pretty terrified at all the ways universities could be deceived into handing over information and / or money or things.
I soon realised that my learning journey is the same for everyone responsible for this topic in an institution so I thought it may be helpful to document my experiences over the next few weeks. Hopefully this will help others who want a quick route to all they need to know – and what they don’t!
As the Procurement Specialist for HEPA I have some experience. I have completed the CIPS Ethics training also the HEPA Bribery Act training, both free for members. I am aware of the risks of billing fraud, where a supplier might submit a false, duplicated or inflated invoice. I know also about a great number of purchase order frauds, where a PO resembling a genuine university PO is sent to a supplier with instructions to ship expensive goods to an address with no relationship to that university. “Bid-Rigging” and collusion have always been something to be mindful of and I found the new advice by the Competition and Markets Authority last year most helpful.
I know something about Phishing emails (sadly) both professionally and privately, and have taught my children about not sharing personal data online. I am also pretty sure offers of great sums of money from distant Nigerian royal relatives are not to be trusted!
What I have discovered however, is that outside my area of expertise, spotting and dealing with the potential for fraudulent activity is a minefield! We cannot all know everything that happens throughout our own universities, let alone a national and international sector, so my first observation is that collaboration really must be the best way to approach and combat the risks.
