Under a conversion method, the correlation between a suspect’s improvement of lifestyle and the related fraudulent activity is investigated, as well as how a perpetrator spent stolen funds. The main reasons for performing a conversion investigation are to evaluate the extent of embezzlement and gather evidence to obtain a suspect’s confession. Conversion investigation methods include interviewing suspects, conversion searches using government sources, private sources, online databases, and internet searches, and the net worth method.
Government sources are represented by public records that are published by federal, state, and local agencies. Usually, local and state records appear to be more useful than federal ones. Private sources of information include the suspect’s acquaintances, credit agencies, and trash cover. The information which credit agencies are required to provide to fraud investigators includes bank documents, account information, and marketing information. Several commercial databases may contain useful information about a suspect. Examples of the most popular online databases are Accurint, Black Book Online, and Data Quick. Common techniques of internet search are searching by phrase, filtering search terms, and searching Google News. The net worth method is used to calculate the extent of the stolen funds by subtracting the suspect’s assets from liabilities.