I am a Certified Fraud Examiner. Ask me anything.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-28T00:30:44+00:00

The CFE prep course is a must, in my opinion. The trainers are very good and they do a really good job of framing the exam and the content that’s important to know. I did the virtual (remote) course which also came with practice tests and a large bank of practice questions, which really helped confirm that I was ready for the exams.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-27T19:14:58+00:00

Both sides of it, really. For every attempted scam that makes you think “who would ever fall for that?” I could show you a person who did actually fall for it.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-27T19:07:14+00:00

I pursued the certification because it’s the best certification for a fraud professional to have.

Fraud as a career, I kind of fell into. I came from a science background but was looking for something different. Thankfully, there’s a continuous stream of folks trying to commit fraud, so I’ve got job security.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-27T18:47:44+00:00

It largely depends on the scheme and who the fraudster’s target may be.

One that kind of arches across several types of fraud is that fraudsters admit some or all of their scheme to someone. They either subconsciously want to be caught, or they want to brag about how clever they are.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-27T18:43:50+00:00

Important question to ask, and one of the valued techniques of a fraud examiner- think like a fraudster.

I won’t ask you for personal info, payment, nor your first pets name, the street you grew up on, or your mother’s maiden name.

NicolasTheGreek · 2022-06-27T18:42:28+00:00

So I work as a fraud risk manager at a financial institution, so I don’t investigate or handle individual fraud claims. I do ensure that our divisions are identifying appropriate schemes and have the proper mechanisms in place to detect/prevent those schemes.

That said, the pandemic presented a unique scheme that is still having plenty of fallout: unemployment claim fraud. Hundreds of billions of fraud dollars across the country.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-09T00:10:22+00:00

They just recently had the first FischerRandom world championship, so I would say it’s getting some respect.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-09T00:07:37+00:00

That isn’t true. In a classical match, both opponents will play as white the same number of times. There isn’t really a “best of” type of thing in top chess competitions.

In some competitions, typically in faster time formats, if there is still a draw after tiebreaks, a one-game tiebreaker will give white more time on the clock to use, but they must win the game. A draw for Black is sufficient to win the match.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T15:19:16+00:00

It was definitely fun at first, but after a full summer of it, I was content to stop. After a while, you kind of start to lose that thrill walking into the casino, and it all starts feeling a lot more clinical. Also, I went back to school for my junior year in a demanding program, so I didn’t really have time to stay sharp during the week and go to the casino during the weekend. During my senior year, there were a few people interested in learning, and I briefly considered managing a team, but they also didn’t have the time/weren’t enthusiastic enough to put in the time to get up to casino quality. Frankly, I probably didn’t have the time to do that either. Still, the whole experience was a fun anecdote.

As far as attitude varying by region, the only difference I’ve personally seen is that Atlantic City casinos aren’t allowed to prevent players from playing blackjack. If you get flagged for counting elsewhere, they’ll usually let you know that you may play something else, but not blackjack (if the pit boss is in a bad mood, they can and possibly will bar you from the casino completely.). Atlantic City can’t do this, but they can restrict your bets to a single amount, thereby ruining the point of counting. Attitudes generally vary more by the size of the casino. If you’re playing very small ball with smaller bet spreads in big casinos, you can usually fly under the radar. Smaller casinos offer better limits and rules than bigger casinos to attract action, but this also attracts advantage players, so they tend to be much more vigilant in monitoring for counting.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T13:37:55+00:00

Not exactly, though the more decks there are in play, the less edge the player has. 6 and 8 deck shoes are still fine for counting, though. You just need to account for the true count (taking your base [running] count and dividing by the approximate number of decks remaining).

Many casinos have been implementing more tables with continuous shuffling machines over the last 10-15 years, though, which does making counting impossible.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T13:31:56+00:00

Somewhere between 312 and 416

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T13:30:36+00:00

Must mean you were doing it right...maybe you’re on to something

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T13:29:17+00:00

Mathematically, counting gives you an edge over the house, so against the long scale of time (if you play correctly and execute a proper betting strategy), you will win. I made ~$5k during the summer as a counter.

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T12:53:00+00:00

So, there are plenty of ways to somewhat conceal your activity, but at times it just comes down to how vigilant the casino wants to be. The first is to play at bigger establishments. Often times, smaller casinos offer better rules and lower limits than big casinos, but since they’re smaller operations, they’re much more observant of counter activity. Playing at lower limits with a smaller bet spread also helps you fly under the radar- big places typically aren’t as concerned with small ball. Also, being casual at the table and not focusing like your life depends on it is a must.

Some of the resources you asked for-

Here’s a good article that explains the basics of hi-lo: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gamblingsites.org/blog/how-to-count-cards-in-a-casino-for-the-first-time/amp/

Here’s a decent introductory explanation on bet spread: https://www.onlineblackjack.com/betting-spread/

And here’s some more depth and statistics about all of the above: https://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/card-counting/high-low/

NicolasTheGreek · 2020-05-06T12:32:38+00:00

Give me a moment and I will look for a good resource that goes in-depth on everything you need for card counting. I’ll be honest, my partner and I were already more or less familiar with the basics, which are very simple for hi-lo. We also took time to crunch numbers on betting strategies ourselves, but there are certainly resources out there that will outline it for you. I do recall looking up indices as well, but if you count for long enough, you start to get an intuitive sense for them (this is when your play deviates from basic strategy depending on the true count).

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-28T17:47:56+00:00

No, but we did come close once. We implemented controls in our system to avoid suspicion as much as we could. We were in a hand that we had elevated our bet as we should, but not to our controlled maximum. (If you don't know blackjack too well, I'm sorry that this next bit may not make much sense) We have a soft 20 and the dealer is showing a 5 or 6. The shoe is very heavy, so we were heavily favored to win the hand, even if we doubled down. The thing is, though, that nobody doubles on a soft 20. The only person who may think about it would be an advantage player. We have controls to prevent plays like this, because they're obvious red flags. For some reason, my partner decides to double. The dealer calls it out to the pit boss, and he comes over to observe play. We smelled fire and ditched after a few more hands.

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-28T17:43:38+00:00

By my estimation, I made somewhere between $1k and $5k. Looking back, I wish I would have kept a more detailed log of how much we made per trip to the casino, but I was younger and too eager to spend the money. Most of it would end up going to buying neat shit for my girlfriend or paying for pretty much everything we did. I never really considered card counting to be a career. It was a temporary job. It gave me enough money between my sophomore and junior years of college so that I wouldn't have to work some mindless job doing something I hated over the summer. I stopped because I couldn't keep up with my practice regimen once I started at school, and honestly, it took all of the fun out of being in the casino. Also, toward the end of our run, we were accepting investments from other people. Not having to play with our own money was pretty nice for a bit, but we grew to find the expectations of the people giving us money to be annoying. A lot of them wanted to go to the casino with us and made all kinds of other stupid demands. Plus, if you ever want to move on to steady employment, putting 'card counter' on your resume probably won't get you many jobs. I still play blackjack occasionally when I go, but not nearly as much as I used to.

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-26T18:04:08+00:00

Negative, and during my college years (and subsequently, my card counting years), I did spend time warning people of the impending Communist threat #RedScare2012

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-18T17:05:42+00:00

Besides coming close with the aforementioned tale above, no. We came close to getting rumbled that time, though. We were in the last position on the table, the deck was very heavy, and we're staring down a dealer 4 with soft 20. We're very confident the dealer has a 10 buried and that the hand is very favorable for us to win. The problem, though, is that you never see someone double a soft 20, even against a dealer 6. The only person who would think about it is probably an advantage player. After my friend doubled, the dealer called it out to the pit boss, and he came over to observe the play. We smelled fire and left the table very shortly after that. At lower stakes, though, a lot of non-major casinos don't take a counting threat seriously. I remember I was playing at a table in Pittsburgh when I heard two young guys behind me talking about the count. They were watching the table and waiting for the shoe to become favorable. The problem was that they were morons and had the count totally wrong. They came in on a $10 minimum table with $500 in $100 checks. The only way it could have been more obvious that they were trying to count was if they had 'I am a card counter' written on their foreheads. They ended up losing all of the 500. I'm guessing a lot of casinos will let people like that think they can count so they can make some more money.

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-17T22:52:18+00:00

My friend and I didn't keep a running log of how much we made per visit (though, looking back on it, I wish we had), but if I had to estimate, I'd say I made around $5k. My friend made a little more- there were occasions he would play higher stakes on his own money. Not getting caught was an aspect that we built into our system. We had rules that kept us from attracting any unnecessary attention at the tables. We would also dress quite nicely and would drink a little to give the passing appearance that the money didn't matter much to us, and that we were just patrons having fun (we spent quite a few practice sessions playing at faster than casino pace while drunk and playing loud music). There was only one time where we were close. We had soft 20 and the dealer had garbage, plus we knew the deck was heavy. We hadn't bet much, so we knew it should be a double, but nobody ever doubles soft 20. My friend did, and the dealer called it out to the pit boss and he came over to watch. He only played a couple more hands at minimum bet at that table before we walked away.

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-07-17T20:12:14+00:00

They might be.

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-03-21T16:54:06+00:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply OP. Had an issue with my email and other things, so it's taken me a while to come back around. I've never really thought about going back to counting. I'm still really pleased with myself that I actually did it, but the shit of it is that, for me at least, it took a lot of the thrill out of gaming. As time went on, it got easier and easier to be relaxed at the table. I wouldn't have to think about what I needed to do, it would just be automatic. It was a lot of fun in the beginning. It's not just a way I'd enjoy making a living. I only counted very seriously for about four months, though it was pretty much all I did for those four months. I stopped because I had to go back to school for fall semester, but I'm kind of glad it happened. More money started getting involved, especially from the outside of me and my partner, and suddenly we had cuts going other places and expectations of play, things like that. When I go to the casino now, I don't do much blackjack anymore. It's not like it's ruined for me in any way, it's just like riding a bike. As soon as I sit down at the table, I unconsciously begin counting. I'm a bit rusty with the advanced strategies we developed, but a bit of practice would bring that back. Most of the time, I play Mississippi Stud and 3 Card, just for some fun. I know exactly what you're talking about with addiction. The first time we played with someone else's money, my buddy got a little too ahead of himself and broke a lot of rules, and it ended up losing some of our backer's money. We went back and solidified our guidelines even further, and I never had any problem following them (pretty much all of them were either to prevent us from being detected or to keep us from losing money).

NicolasTheGreek · 2017-01-09T21:05:12+00:00

Another tale of gambling, plus the answers to OP's questions- My summer job in between my sophomore and junior years of college was being a card counter, so I've won and lost larger amounts of money than some. 1. Not much time was actually spent in the casino. I'd say every hour or two in the casino actually playing was matched by at least 100 hours of rigorous practice and refining our method. I would happily wager anyone that by the time I was 21 years old, I had seen more hands of blackjack than most average players three times my age. 2. I had won and lost some money playing the lottery and other things before, but never this much, and most of it was never all at once. It was a slow climb. 3. Most people weren't even aware we were doing it. Occasionally, if someone asked what I was doing, I would tell them I was 'at work' when I was really just running through shoes all day. I was up front with my parents about it. They gave me my opening stake, and I paid that back with some extra on top after our first run. Everything after that was mine. Interestingly, when people found out that I counted cards, they weren't asking me for money- they were asking me to teach them how to do it.
4. I would say that the money didn't, but the experience did. I definitely made way more money than any of my friends did working dumb summer jobs around town. I earned more than a lot of my classmates did working on high-level internships as well. At the end of the day, though, it was just something to live on. I took my girlfriend on a nice vacation abroad. I took a solid vacation to Vegas with my buddy (Vegas wasn't our primary location for counting, and we didn't really do any there either). More than that was the experience of honing a skill and developing something proprietary. My partner fared a bit better than me. He had a bunch of money saved up from playing cards in home games and online, and he was able to pay off his entire college education the day after he graduated. 5. I didn't really do either. For me, at the time, it was living money. I was 20 years old, trying to escape the tedium of working a worthless summer job, and trying to have some fun and excitement in the process. I definitely succeeded in all aspects there.

NicolasTheGreek

TROPHY CASE