Embezzler's Guide

Readers of the Harvard Business Review are normally fed a strict diet of numbingly staid articles on management techniques and policies. In the current issue, however, they were served a shockingly unbusinesslike change of pace: the "Embezzler's Guide to the Computer," a 6,800-word how-to-steal article that details the ins and outs of swindling banks and corporations by tampering with their computers. Written by University of Virginia Professor Brandt Allen, a consultant to the FBI on computer fraud, "Embezzler's Guide" offers aspiring thieves encouragement ("There is a great deal of embezzlement that goes undetected") and dozens of helpful tips. For example: "Always be on the watch for special circumstances that create opportunities for fraud, such as when a company converts from manual processing to a computer system or switches from one system to another." Other suggestions: "Do not ignore inventories as a possible source of revenue. In many cases, it is easier to convert goods to cash than it is fraudulent checks." Also, "One of the most elegant frauds in the pension area ... involves changing the address of a legitimate beneficiary to that of the embezzler or an accomplice at the time of the beneficiary's death. It is best to select beneficiaries with no life insurance."

The Harvard Business Review decided to run "Embezzler's Guide" to stimulate readers' thinking about how to cope with computer fraud, but H.B.R. Editor Ralph Lewis reports that the only response so far has been a few chuckles. Author Allen doubts that his "Embezzler's Guide" will trigger any sudden increase in crime. Says he: "The people who are in a position to do this know what needs to be done anyway." But he admits that he would "feel bad if somebody got caught embezzling as a result of something he read in the article." Adds Allen: "Naturally, I'd feel worse if he weren't caught."

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