Theft, Fraud Schemes and How Community Associations Can Avoid Them

In her blog entry below that was posted on Sept. 10, Laura Manning-Hudson wrote about the disturbing trend of increased cases of fraud, theft and embezzlement at Florida community associations that she and many other association attorneys have been seeing. The damage that can be inflicted on associations by unscrupulous managers, employees and board members is indeed very severe, and this article will focus on the types of schemes that appear to be most prevalent and some of the best practices for associations to employ in order to help to avoid becoming a victim.

One of the most elementary strategies that are used by fraudsters is the pilfering of cash received from owners for their monthly assessments, which can be easily concealed by destroying copies of the receipts. The more elaborate schemes often entail under-the-table payments, bribes or kickbacks involving vendors that are actually co-conspirators. This could take the form of overpayments to the vendors that are then returned directly to the employee or board member instead of to the association. Other times it may involve a simple kickback from the vendor as an ongoing reward for their inflated contract.

The association’s checking account tends to be the primary vehicle for the theft and embezzlement of funds. Forged signatures and counterfeit checks may be used, and some fraudsters create fictitious vendors and issue payments directly to themselves using a bogus company name. Association credit cards have also been used in a similar fashion.

Election fraud aimed at taking a majority voting control of an association’s board in order to gain control of its purse strings is also one of the ploys that is being used with considerable success. By tampering with the ballots, stuffing the ballot box with forged and counterfeit ballots, and destroying legitimate ballots, fraudsters have been able to gain control of association boards in order to hatch and execute elaborate schemes to filch thousands of dollars from their associations each month.

Some of the best practices associations may implement to avoid being victimized include employing a high level of vigilance for all assessment payments, including verifying that the account number on the back of all of the returned checks matches the association’s account.

It is also important to ensure the independence of your association’s accounting firm by having it be selected by a vote of the board as opposed to the property manager. These accounting firms are called on to complete comprehensive annual audits, including a thorough review of the files for every member and vendor, as opposed to relying solely on reports.

Associations should also consider requiring two board members to sign all association checks. It is never recommended that associations allow property managers or other non-directors to sign association checks.

A designated board member should also conduct monthly reviews of the bookkeeping with the property manager, and this should include any credit card statements. Bank statements should also be required to be sent to the designated board member as well as the manager. The monthly review of these statements should include a careful review of all the checks that were issued and the signatures for each.

It is also wise to rotate the board membership on a regular basis and avoid having the same individuals in charge of the board or finances for considerable lengths of time.

For any payments received in cash, it is best to use a three-part cash receipt book so that copies of the receipts go to the payer, one for the bank deposit records and one for the bookkeeper.

By using these and other precautionary measures, community associations can make it as difficult as possible for managers, employees and board members to deploy schemes aimed at defrauding associations.