Which of the following is an INCORRECT statement regarding an international branch office

Many of the Fraud Section’s cases are suits filed under the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 - 3733, a federal statute originally enacted in 1863 in response to defense contractor fraud during the American Civil War.

The FCA provided that any person who knowingly submitted false claims to the government was liable for double the government’s damages plus a penalty of $2,000 for each false claim.  The FCA has been amended several times and now provides that violators are liable for treble damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation. 

In addition to allowing the United States to pursue perpetrators of fraud on its own, the FCA allows private citizens to file suits on behalf of the government (called “qui tam” suits) against those who have defrauded the government.  Private citizens who successfully bring qui tam actions may receive a portion of the government’s recovery.  Many Fraud Section investigations and lawsuits arise from such qui tam actions.

The Department of Justice obtained more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021.  More information about those recoveries can be found here and the 2021 FCA statistics can be found here.

Updated February 2, 2022

You get an email or text that seems to be from one of your company’s vendors. It asks you to click on a link to update your business account. Should you click? Probably not. This could be a phishing attempt.

To find out how much you know about phishing, choose the best response for each question or statement.

1. Which one of these statements is correct?

2. An email from your boss asks for the name, addresses, and credit card information of the company’s top clients. The email says it’s urgent and to please reply right away. You should reply right away. True or False?

3. You get a text message from a vendor who asks you to click on a link to renew your password so that you can log in to its website. You should:

4. Email authentication can help protect against phishing attacks. True or False?

5. If you fall for a phishing scam, what should you do to limit the damage?

Someone in your company gets an email. It looks legitimate — but with one click on a link, or one download of an attachment, everyone is locked out of your network. How do you identify ransomware and what should you do to protect your business?

To find out how much you know about ransomware, select the correct response for each question or statement.

1. What is ransomware?

2. Local backup files – saved on your computer – will protect your data from being lost in a ransomware attack. True or False?

3. Which of these best describes how criminals start ransomware attacks?

4. If you encounter a ransomware attack, the first thing you should do is pay the ransom. True or False?

5. Setting your software to auto-update is one way you can help protect your business from ransomware. True or False?