Link and Network Investigation—Connecting the Dots of the Fraud
摘要
This chapter delves into the world of link and network investigation as a method for uncovering corporate fraud. It emphasizes the importance of understanding not just individual red flags but also the complex web of relationships between entities and individuals involved. The chapter introduces the concept of network analytics, explaining points (nodes) as individual entities and links (edges) as relationships between them. It highlights the significance of focal points within corporate and social networks, such as corporate entities, key individuals, and third-party facilitators. The chapter also discusses the use of network visualizations and the challenges of working with incomplete or evolving networks. It concludes by exploring tools and techniques, including centrality measures, path analysis, link prediction, and cluster analysis, used to detect and analyze criminal networks. Finally, the chapter touches upon the limitations of human analysis in understanding complex networks and the future potential of machine learning as a supportive tool.