iFacts Industry News

Over 60% of management believe their employees are aware of all company standards and policies, but how many managers are aware of their employee’s ethical standards?

The National Small Business Chamber is hosting the 4th Annual My Business Expo at Gallagher Convention Centre on 29th March. We will be stand number A43. Come visit us!!!

Ernst & Young have released the UK Bribery Digest: Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services. This report examines completed bribery and corruption cases that have taken place across the UK since 2008. It will be used to highlight interesting aspects of these cases and as a trends and prevention tool.

As the economic horizon continues to shift and belts tighten, small and medium sized companies — who typically have between 10 to 500 employees and represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) — may wind up being so focused on core business issues that they overlook one of their most potentially serious and costly issues — human resource compliance.

Unlike their large-company counterparts, they lack the time and resources to build infrastructure and processes that are beyond core business objectives. But if entrepreneurs and smaller business owners are focused solely on growth and product, how do they know what issues to look for in order to protect the company? This is a must-read paper that discusses the top 5 HR compliance issues they may face.

Every Christmas motorists receive a number of warnings about the spike in road traffic accidents – according to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, a shocking 1 221 fatal road accidents occurred during this period last year – yet just as important is making sure you understand what to do if you are involved in an accident.

Transparency International interviewed over 6000 individuals across Southern Africa in countries including South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe to identify the public's perspective on corruption and how it affects their lives.

SKILLS WE NEED: Management, engineering, law, finance, accounting and medicine

Universities are producing the wrong kind of graduates to redress South Africa’s high unemployment rate, a labour analyst says.

“There are currently nearly 600,000 unemployed university graduates in South Africa, mostly in the arts, humanities and social sciences,” said Adcorp labour market analyst Loane Sharp in a statement. “Whereas the private sector has more than 800,000 vacancies in management, engineering, law, finance, accounting and medicine.”

The new Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, which took over the tasks of the dysfunctional Cipro, has had a painful start as it battled to overcome historical backlogs and implement the new Companies Act. The good news is that things are slowly but surely coming together.
Adapted from an article in the Mail&Guardian:

Bullying, or psychological violence, is predictable in a workplace environment, a U.S. expert says.

Gary Namie, president of Work Doctor Inc. and author of "The Bully-Free Workplace" -- said surveys show 35 percent of U.S. adults report being bullied at work. Another 15 percent witness it and vicariously are made miserable, but 50 percent report neither experiencing nor witnessing bullying.

The National Debt Mediation Association (NDMA) has dealt with 1872 valid complaints since it was set up 19 months ago.

South Africa’s 4 800km of land border fences remain vulnerable, South African Revenue Service commissioner Oupa Magashule told MPs on Tuesday.

“Our borderline fences are vulnerable, radar coverage of our airspace is insufficient and our vast maritime border is under-patrolled,” Magashule told Parliament's portfolio committee on police.

He said nearly 32 million people moved in and out of South Africa's borders in 2010, with the bulk of foreign travellers - 8.3 million - arriving by road.

Companies from South Africa are seen as the fifteenth most likely to use bribery to secure foreign contracts, a new report released by Transparency International says.

Countries were scored on a scale of 0 to 10, where a maximum score of 10 corresponds with the view that companies in that sector never bribe and a 0 corresponds with the view that they always do.

As another hard year comes to an end, many South Africans will be packing their holiday suitcases. With luggage pilfering rife, we’ve put together some safety tips to help make your holiday stress-free.

The latest official jobs data shows that SA's unemployment rate decreased to 25% in the third quarter from 25.7% in the second quarter, Statistics SA said on Tuesday.

A survey of consumer debt has come to the shock conclusion that South Africans are trapped in the worst debt crisis yet, with more than 6000 new debt counselling applications a month.

Census 2011 started today. Many citizens are conerned about security issues regarding those conducting the survey and whether these individuals should be granted access to private property.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is permitted to include people on the government’s terrorist watch list even if they have been acquitted of terrorism-related offenses or the charges are dropped, according to newly released documents.

The sense of optimism was palpable at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria when South Africa’s National Minister of Police released the official police crime statistics for the 2010/2011 financial year, last week. This was because crime had decreased in virtually all categories during the past year. The total amount of crime decreased by over 50 000 cases or 2.4% compared to the previous year.

Britain is preparing to rip up centuries-old rules by introducing passports which do not contain details of the holder’s sex.

The move, following pressure from the Lib Dems, is designed to spare transgender people and those who have both male and female sexual organs from having to tick “male” or “female” on their travel papers.

DG placed on “special leave” amidst R3.6bn corruption spree.

JOHANNESBURG - Tenders granted by the Department of Public Works (DPW) to the value of over R3bn have been affected by “serious irregularities,” the minister of public works, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, said in a damning statement released yesterday.

MEMBERS of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) are due to stage a series of marches around the country late next month, culminating in a one-day mass stayaway on October 5.

One of the top sources of information leakage and data theft is from within your own business, says an information security awareness consultancy.

Employees, contractors and business partners are all potential security risks, yet a survey at the 2011 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit found that addressing the "insider threat" was ranked the second lowest priority for the information security industry. The Security Company reveals the latest moves to combat this threat in a new report on its web site.

On Friday, 26 August 2011, Government Gazette No. 34561 (Volume 554) was published. This action heralded the coming into being of the Immigration Amendment Bill into law.

South Africa's murder rate dropped by 6.5% to 15 940 murders in 2010/11, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday.

"It is perhaps worth mentioning that during the 1994/95 period our murder ratio as a country stood at 27 000," he said in Pretoria on the release of the annual crime statistics.

The figures were drawn from April 2010 to March 2011.

Sixteen months after it became operational, only one person deemed unsuitable to work with children has been named in the national Child Protection Register (CPR).

In a written reply to a parliamentary question tabled on Monday, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini confirmed the register was “fully operational”, with an allocated budget of R1.7 million.

Statistics revealed by a recent IMC (Institute of Crisis Management) report shows that white-collar crime is behind 18% of reported business crises in 2009, followed closely by mismanagement with 16%.

The most recent and spectacular of examples is that of Bernard Madoff, CEO of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. His fraudulent activities cost his investors billions of dollars, making this particular case the largest incident of investor fraud ever recorded.

The DA was accused of corruption by the Sunday Times. This all came about thanks to a disgruntled employee who leaked a part of the tender process documentation to the paper.

Jenny Reid, Direcotor of iFacts, says political parties are not the only ones at risk of disgruntled employees. Businesses need to have a strategy in place to deal with such risks.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has scheduled a July 26, 2011 meeting to evaluate arrest and conviction records as a barrier to employment. The meeting will be open to the public but will not be broadcast on television or the internet.

The Transportation Security Administration cannot determine the real identities of thousands of the people to whom the Federal Aviation Administration has issued licenses as pilots and aircraft mechanics, but has located an additional 27 who should not have held them because of terrorist connections, according to an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security.

Unemployment in the second quarter of rose to 25.7 percent compared to the first quarter's 25 percent, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Thursday.

"The unemployment rate increased by 0.7 of a percentage point between quarter one (25 percent) and quarter two (25.7 percent)," Stats SA said on releasing its latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

The numerous problems experienced during the test phases of AARTO in Johannesburg and Pretoria during the past two years resulted in a delay in implementation. The implementation date is not yet known, but it is certain that AARTO is here to stay.
Employers are again reminded of some of the implications of AARTO.

A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) workplace violence survey found that more than 50% of the respondents were concerned that workplace violence might occur at their organization. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 564 work-related homicides occurred each year in the United States from 2004 to 2008.

A recent study by KPMG has found that approximately 18 percent of workplace frauds are committed by managing directors and chief executives, compared to 11 percent in 2007. These results were based on an analysis of 348 white collar crimes between January 2008 and December 2010. Other findings from the "Who is the Typical Fraudster?" report showed that 32 percent of those who commit fraud work in finance, and 57 percent have more than 10 years experience, while 53 percent were in either a senior management role or a board role.

A 44-year-old Ghanaian was expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday after being arrested for allegedly forging official documents, police said.

Former Land Bank CEO Philemon Mohlahlane and three others appeared briefly in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday in connection with fraud charges, the National Prosecuting Authority said.

Corrupt government officials often received lenient punishments, and usually after being suspended on full pay for long periods, the Public Service Commission (PSC) said

The unemployment rate increased by 1% to 25% between the fourth quarter of 2010 and first quarter in 2011, Statistics SA said on Tuesday.

"The unemployment rate increased by one percentage point between Q4: 2010 (24%) and Q1: 2011 (25%)." Stats SA said in its labour force survey for the first quarter of 2011.

Solicitors have been warned by the Law Society to tighten up security to prevent a significant increase in theft by employees.

The warning from the Law Society’s Regulation of Practice Committee said that, while misappropriation by employees could not be described as widespread, the number of cases that had come to the attention of the committee had increased significantly.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have both vowed to prosecute people who use fake degrees purporting to have been issued by their institutions.

More than half of the 1.3 million people who applied for a re-issue of their identity documents (IDs) in the past year, failed to collect them, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday.

The Department of Home Affairs has given an assurance that applications for study, work, business, temporary and permanent residence permits would soon be completed.

THE Eastern Cape doctor accused of using fake documents to get a job at a state hospital passed a board examination required by the Health Professions Council of South Africa for registration to work in the country, the organisation says.

Hi-jackings are a constant threat to motorists across South Africa. The South African Police Service offers some valuable safety tips on their website. We list some of them here for you.

From the 1st February our traffic officials are going to be more stringent with enforcing the new traffic laws and rules of the road. Are you and your staff aware of the changes? Do you and your staff have valid driver's and car licenses?

Cape Town - Three men, believed to be part of a card fraud syndicate have been arrested in Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Sunday.

A police spokesperson said that police on Saturday noticed an attachment over the face of an ATM in Welgemoed.

Work-seekers who live in fear of their criminal records being exposed when applying for jobs can now have those files expunged.

Amelia Griesel, managing director of forensic investigations company CSI Africa, says the new Criminal Procedure Amendment Act allows people to have criminal records expunged provided they were not sex crimes, murder, rape, armed robbery or assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm.

The Security Association of South Africa is pleased to be presenting at the Security Vetting Conference in Stellenbosch on 27^th- 28^th October and Jenny Reid, President of SASA, will be discussing ways companies and individuals can work with the industry to prevent criminals from entering the business.

Employers understand the detrimental effects stress has on their organisations and are responding with multiple strategies to help workers cope.

The Stress in the Workplace survey identifies the areas most affected by stress and the strategies employed by organisations to reduce stress for their workers.

Identity fraud in the workplace continues to grow, with many employees abusing manual time attendance or clocking systems.

To stop the abuse, and control access and record attendance, employers are implementing fingerprint scanning or biometric systems.

In Vol 28 No 8, Security Focus magazine profiled Jenny Reid, MD of iFacts and The Orange, in their article Spotlight on Women.

Global IT vendor Panda Security has received numerous reports from users whose Facebook profile has been hacked and whose identity has therefore been placed at risk.

Many companies fail to take precautions that would prevent workplace shootings because they do not think that such incidents could happen to them.

Law Review: Spotting a troubled employee before mass murder is almost impossible, law experts say

Identifying the one-in-a-million person on the verge of committing mass murder is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Employment in SA fell sharply by an annualized 8.1% between June and July 2010, with all sectors, provinces and occupations recording declines in employment.

Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd has reached an amicable agreement with a former marketing contractor who accused him of sexual harassment.

More than half of the world's private business owners - 56 percent - believe that stress in the office has increased in the past year.

IOL columnist John Mullins says that instead of building your entire career path on material gain, start with finding ways to reach your full potential by being grateful for the little things you have and by giving of yourself, you will find that the prizes will come in due time. Read the full story on IOL

Unsure whether to bring a sick note after being off ill for two or three days? Here are the facts!

The government's Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council recently held its third meeting and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies said that many elements of the BBBEE Framework had been put in place, including sector charters, codes of good practice and verification processes.

The City of Cape Town and the Cape Provincial government will approach the Western Cape High Court this week in an urgent bid to delay the local implementation of a new road traffic offences system. Click here for the full story on motoring.co.za

In the wake of market crashes and company frauds, many organizations have called for a zero-tolerance policy on unethical workplace behavior.

47% of employees are linked to another company
[ February 2010, Risk Management ]

In Vol 27 No 12, Security Focus magazine chose Jenny Reid, MD of The Orange and iFacts, for their personality profile.

2009 was something of an exhausting year for most and the hope of some financial gain, the excitement of a new year and the looming FIFA 2010 World Cup has got to offer some light at the end of a tunnel.

Drug abuse in the workplace has reached "epidemic" proportions, said the SA Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca).

As part of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, CIFAS has today issued to the media and others a Special Report into identity fraud and account takeover fraud. Featuring collaborations from a wide range of other industry participants, this Special Report is available to download.

As with Spectrum, the contents page is interactive, enabling you to navigate straight to the articles that you most want to read. Please take a little time out of your busy workload to read the report for the latest news, statistics, opinion and preventative tips on identity fraud and account takeover fraud.

When Raymond Clark III was arrested in the death of Yale graduate student Annie Le, New Haven Police Chief James Lewis said that the case was not about urban crime or university crime, but about workplace violence.

When it comes to employee loyalty, the bottom line is, it's all about you. Here's what you can do to create a loyal staff.

Deputy Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, recently highlighted the importance of saving at the SA Savings Institute breakfast. He announced that household savings as a percentage of disposable income have fallen from 5,4% in 1980s to 0,28% between the years 2000 and 2008. Nene says that the low savings rate is worrying because it leaves household income vulnerable to rising prices. He adds that the recent economic crisis emphasises the “danger of being overly dependent on others and the importance of making responsible decisions for the future”. Compared to international standards, South Africa’s savings rate is very low. As an example, China’s gross savings rate is over 40%.

Business Insight: Bullying thrives in the workplace, especially in a downturn

Gary Namie, author of The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job, calls bullying one the business world's dirtiest secrets.

A fraudster says "We buy fake papers for R450 then purchase goods on credit worth R23 000"

Q. How can a small business avoid employee theft? A. That’s a timely question because employee theft is more likely during a recession.

Fraud, theft and industrial espionage are costing the South African economy R80 billion a year – and the perpetrators are predominantly employees.

An economic downturn means many companies will be disposing of unnecessary or less profitable services, but as recent studies suggest, background screening should not be one of them. The truth is, in harsh economic times there is a tendency to see increases in employee theft. People, like businesses, are trying to cut spending and maximize the resources that they currently have. Too often, however, the resources people have at their disposal are actually the company’s property.

An identity thief gave herself away – by applying for a job with a stolen ID book. And when victim Belinda Buswana, 30, of Tshiawelo, Soweto, met the Zimbabwean impostor yesterday she was more disappointed than angry.

Careers24, supported by Workinfo.com, Blue River Stone and Da Vinci Labs, has published the results of their 2008 online salary survey in which 21 000 South Africans took part.

Human Relations managers can now find out whether they might be considering appointing a potential trouble seeker who had previously taken employers to court or at least the CCMA.

An additional channel to establish other aspects of job seekers has now been opened and is being offered to interested organisations by GriffithsREID security consultants.

Failure to do proper due diligence exposes firm to liability suits if violence occurs

The question is: does being blacklisted justify denied employment? Manie van Schalkwyk, Credit Information Ombudsman has good news.

What is the National Credit Act everyone is talking about and how does it affect the consumer? Edgars Financial Services explains what it means for you.

Eric Boden, Chairman & CEO of HireRight

With varying economic projections and continued pressure on human resources organizations to help improve organizational performance, 2007 will be a year where HR professionals look for ways to tighten controls, meet compliance requirements and work smarter. Supporting these efforts are significant developments in background screening practices and technologies which, along with an increasingly fluid workforce, represent the driving forces behind some of the major trends we see for 2007.

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Many people think screening is easy –- but consider the problems faced by screening companies in India and the Far East: - There are 27 different ways to spell the name Muhammad. India will add some 12 million jobs to its job market this year alone. - Each person born in India has two dates of birth—one biological and one when the birth is officially recorded.

American Banks Face Challenge In Screening Employees To Avert Inside ID Thefts

When two of America’s largest banks were forced to notify thousands of customers that their financial records may have been stolen, there wasn't a hacker, a missing laptop or a lost box of backup computer tapes to blame. This time, police believe, customers of Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp. were the victims of bank employees, workers whose jobs at the Charlotte-based banks granted them access to information valuable enough to sell for $10 an account.

A senior City of Cape Town law enforcement officer has been caught after driving patrol vehicles and an NSRI response car without a driver's licence for 13 years. The Ottery-based officer is facing disciplinary action by Metro Police. He has not been suspended, but is confined to a desk at the Ottery office. His allegedly illegal status was discovered when he collided with a stationary vehicle in Lukkanon Drive, Strandfontein.

The identities of more than 50 000 customers of major Bahamas resort Atlantis have been exposed to possible identity fraud following the theft of personal information from the hotel, the owners said.

The department of home affairs has failed to properly implement the immigration regulations which came into effect seven months ago, resulting in a crisis, according to several prominent immigration lawyers and practitioners. “The situation continues to get worse,” said Rod Maxwell, Chief Executive of South Africa Migration International. “We’ve written to the department of home affairs and said we have a problem, and they’ve said: ‘We’re not interested’, and stonewalled us.”

The revelation that 56 percent of all crime in the Johannesburg metro police department takes place in the licensing department, is a shocking indictment and will shake public confidence in the systems unless local government immediately starts a concerted program of integrity testing, says Jenny Reid, managing director of GriffithsReid, this country’s oldest corporate security company. “The public need to be assured that the officials they are dealing with are honest, as they have access to all manner of personal details which can easily be used for fraudulent and criminal purposes should it fall into the wrong hands,” Reid says.

Employing people is like a relationship: it pays to know exactly what you are getting into before you sign on the dotted line, because the consequences of an incorrect decision can be highly harmful to your business - and your health! How much do you know about your staff? Do you know if they have the qualifications they claim to have? Do you know if they have a criminal record? Is that driver's licence valid? Do they have any substance abuse problems which might affect productivity or heighten the possibility of criminal activity?

When a position is critical or has been open for a long period of time, a common mistake some companies make is lowering their hiring standards in order to find someone to fill the position. Instead of lowering your screening standards, consider other options to find a qualified candidate in a seamingly array of available third-string job candidates.

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