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Hannaford is a national grocery chain whose electronic payment processing system was breached by hackers as early as December 7, 2007. The hackers stole up to 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes, but did not steal customer names. On February 27, 2008, Visa Inc. notified Hannaford that Hannaford’s system had been breached. Hannaford discovered the means of access on March 8, 2008, and contained the breach on March 10, 2008. Hannaford gave notice to certain financial institutions on March 10, 2008. On March 17, 2008, “Hannaford publicly announced for the first time that between December 7, 2007 and March 10, 2008, the security of its information technology systems had been breached, leading to the theft of as many as 4.2 million debit card and credit card numbers belonging to individuals who had made purchases at more than 270 of its stores.” It also announced “that it had already received reports of approximately 1,800 cases of fraud resulting from the theft of those numbers.” A number of affected customers sued Hannaford for breach of implied contract to recover losses arising from the unauthorized use of their credit and debit card data. Damages sought included the cost of replacement card fees when the issuing bank declined to issue a replacement card to them, fees for accounts overdrawn by fraudulent charges, fees for altering preauthorized payment arrangements, loss of accumulated reward points, inability to earn reward points during the transition to a new card, emotional distress, time and effort spent reversing unauthorized charges and protecting against further fraud, and the cost of purchasing identity theft/card protection insurance and credit monitoring services. Discuss the validity of their claim that Hannaford had breached an implied contract with its customers.
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- On February 15, 2022, Kate Collins, owner of Kate’s Cards, asks you to investigate the cash han- dling activities in her business. She believes that a new employee might be stealing funds. “I have no proof,” she says, “but I’m fairly certain that the January 31, 2022, undeposited receipts amounted to more than $12,000, although the January 31 bank reconciliation prepared by the cashier (who works in the treasurer’s department) shows only $7,238.40. Also, the January bank reconciliation doesn’t show several checks that have been outstanding for a long time. The cashier told me that these checks needn’t appear on the reconciliation because he had notified the bank to stop payment on them and he had made the necessary adjustment on the books. Does that sound reasonable to you?” At your request, Kate shows you the following (unaudited) January 31, 2022, bank reconciliation prepared by the cashier: KATE’S CARDS Bank Reconciliation January 31, 2022 Ending balance from bank statement . . . $…arrow_forwardIn the Why It Matters feature “Examples of Theft and FinancialReporting Frauds” at the beginning of the chapter, we introduced youto the Koss Corporation fraud. In this problem, we provide you withfurther details about that fraud. During the fall of 2009, Koss Corporation,a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of stereo headphone equipment,revealed that its vice president of finance (Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva) haddefrauded the company of approximately $31 million over a periodof at least five years. Grant Thornton LLP was the company’s auditor,and the firm issued unqualified audit opinions for the entire period in which they worked for Koss. According to reports, Sachdeva’s theftaccelerated over a period of years as follows:FY 2005 $2,195,477FY 2006 $2,227,669FY 2007 $3,160,310FY 2008 $5,040,968FY 2009 $8,485,937Q1 FY 2010 $5,326,305Q2 FY 2010 $4,917,005To give you a sense of the magnitude of the fraud, annual revenuesfor Koss Corporation are in the range of $40 to $45 million…arrow_forwardInternal Controls One of the largest losses in history from unauthorized securities trading involved a securities trader for the French bank, Societe Generale. The trader was able to circumvent internal controls and create more than $7 billion in trading losses in six months. The trader apparently escaped detection by using knowledge of the bank's internal control systems learned from a previous back-office monitoring job. Much of this monitoring involved the use of software to monitor trades. In addition, traders were usually kept to tight trading limits. Apparently, these controls failed in this case. Answer the following True or False questions about Societe Generale's internal controls. These will assist you in determining the weaknesses. 1. The loss could have been avoided with a number of internal controls. 2. Required vacation time may have alerted managers to the hidden losses. 3. If traders have access to the monitoring software, then the separation of duties control is…arrow_forward
- 6-73. MiniScribe FRAUD As reported in the Wall Street Journal (September 11, 1989), MiniScribe, Inc., inflated its reported profits and inventory through a number of schemes designed to fool the auditors. At that time, MiniScribe was one of the major producers of disk drives for personal computers. The newspaper article reported that MiniScribe used the following techniques to meet its profit objectives: An extra shipment of $9 million of disks was sent to a customer near year-end and booked as a sale. The customer had not ordered the goods and ultimately returned them, but the sale was not reversed in the year recorded. Shipments were made from a factory in Singapore, usually by air freight. Toward the end of the year, some of the goods were shipped by cargo ships. The purchase orders were changed to show that the customer took title when the goods were loaded on the ship. However, title did not pass to the customer until the goods were received in the U.S. Returned goods were…arrow_forwardDavid H. Brooks, a university graduate with an accounting degree and the former CEO of DHBIndustries, Inc., was charged in October 2007 with accounting and securities fraud for failing toreport the company’s inventory at the lower of cost or market. From 2001 to 2005, DHB purchasedlarge quantities of a material called Zylon and used it in making bulletproof vests that were sold tothe U.S. military and local law enforcement agencies. During this same period, DHB learned thatZylon deteriorated rapidly when exposed to light, heat, and body perspiration. DHB knew that oneof its competitors, Second Chance Body Armor, had stopped using Zylon in its vests and, eventually, discontinued its business because customer demand for its Zylon-based vests had evaporated.DHB did not write down its own inventory of Zylon and Zylon-based vests because it had a largecontract to supply the U.S. military with bulletproof vests. In its financial statements for the yearended December 31, 2004, DHB reported…arrow_forwardControl totals include batch totals, hash totals, and record counts. In a two (2) page response explain which of these totals/counts would be useful in preventing or detecting IT system input and processing errors or fraud described as follows: A payroll clerk accidentally entered the same time card twice. The accounts payable department overlooked an invoice and did not enter it into the system because it was stuck to another invoice. A systems analyst was conducting payroll fraud by electronically adding to his “hours worked” field during the payroll computer run. To create a fictitious employee, a payroll clerk removed a time card for a recently terminated employee and inserted a new time card with the same hours worked.arrow_forward
- Black is a Certified Fraud Examiner for the ABC Company. Green, an employee in the accounting department, steals $40,000 worth of merchandise from the store’s warehoused. If Green’s cas is eventually referred to the police by Black, they will probably charge Green with: A. Breach of contract. B. Breach of fiduciary duty. C. Embezzlement. D. Larceny.arrow_forwardSelect the correct answer(s) for the following multiple-choice questions. Note that there may be more than one correct answer. The number of incidents and the total dollar losses from computer fraud are increasing rapidly for several reasons: a. Many instances of computer fraud go undetected and many frauds are not reported. b. Many companies are moving to cloud services where there are few data security controls. c. Internet sites offer step-by-step instructions on how to perpetrate computer fraud and abuse. d. Law enforcement is not interested in preventing or prosecuting computer fraud. e. There are no laws against computer fraud so prosecution is difficultarrow_forwardIs the following a potential control weakness? A computer network and personal computers support Marco accounting and inventory management systems. Personal computers are located in the offices and warehouse and a central server handles all accounting and inventory files. Printers are located in areas where employees need printed documents and other records routinely. The computer is used to control and process most transactions, to print documents, prepare accounting records, and prepare periodic financial statements. Marco uses commercial software recommended by their auditor. To date, they have had only the usual startup problems. They have used it for two years and have upgraded it once. Briefly explain the potential mistatement and recommended correction.arrow_forward
- Carico Ltd, a manufacturer of construction blocks, operates with a fiscal year-end of June 30th, 2021. With a trading history spanning over 25 years, Carico caters to a diverse range of customers, including both large and small hardware stores nationwide. The company's operations encompass a manufacturing plant, five warehouses, and a central head office. Following the manufacturing process, the blocks are stored in one of the warehouses until they are dispatched to customers. It is important to note that Carico currently does not possess an internal audit department. The following is a reflection of the sales system: • • Each customer is assigned a distinct customer account number, which is utilized to input sales orders upon receiving written requests from customers. The responsibility of entering orders lies with an order clerk, and the system performs an automated verification to ensure product availability and prevent the customer from exceeding their credit limit. maintains a New…arrow_forwardThe U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) Office of Special Investigations was responsible for investigating a potential purchase fraud case. The man who allegedly committed the fraud was Mark J. Krenik, a former civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Krenik was the Air Force's technical representative on contracts with Hughes STX. Hughes STX provided hardware, software maintenance, technical support, and training to the Air Force. Part of Mr. Krenik's alleged fraud included opening accounts under his control at banks in Maryland. The accounts were opened under the names Hughes STX and ST Systems Corporation. A section of the GAO report on this fraud investigation reads as follows: On December 15, 1992, Mr. Krenik opened post office box 215 in Vienna, Virginia, in his own name. On December 24, 1992, Mr. Krenik delivered to the Air Force Finance Office 11 bogus invoices totaling $504,941.19. Accompanying the invoices were the respective DD‐250s, on which Mr. Krenik had falsely…arrow_forward“Identity theft is often applied to a wide range of crimes, including checking account fraud, counterfeiting, forgery, auto theft using false documentation, trafficking in human beings, and terrorism, most policymakers, and researchers agree that identity theft includes the misuse of another individual’s personal information to commit fraud”. Required: Where does identity theft fraud happen often? Explain any five steps that victims should need to take once identity theft occurs.arrow_forward
- AccountingAccountingISBN:9781337272094Author:WARREN, Carl S., Reeve, James M., Duchac, Jonathan E.Publisher:Cengage Learning,Accounting Information SystemsAccountingISBN:9781337619202Author:Hall, James A.Publisher:Cengage Learning,
- Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis...AccountingISBN:9780134475585Author:Srikant M. Datar, Madhav V. RajanPublisher:PEARSONIntermediate AccountingAccountingISBN:9781259722660Author:J. David Spiceland, Mark W. Nelson, Wayne M ThomasPublisher:McGraw-Hill EducationFinancial and Managerial AccountingAccountingISBN:9781259726705Author:John J Wild, Ken W. Shaw, Barbara Chiappetta Fundamental Accounting PrinciplesPublisher:McGraw-Hill Education
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