Arteniece Lee, CFE

Arteniece Lee, CFE, grew up on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. She has spent more than 25 years in the insurance industry fighting fraud in Illinois, Wisconsin and Nebraska. She currently leads business-area compliance teams, as well as fraud and money laundering risk governance, as an assistant vice president at Horace Mann Insurance Company.

Interview by Anna Brahce, CFE

I was born and raised in the “Windy City” (Chicago), home of house music, the St. Patrick’s Day green river, the Bud Billiken Parade, deep dish pizza, Harold’s Chicken, White Castle and ‘The Bean.’ I spent summers playing Double-Dutch rope, hopscotch and kickball, catching lightning bugs and running through fire hydrants to stay cool until my mom called me home. 

My other favorite hobbies included choreographing and dancing to house music and participating in community summer parades. A competitor at heart, I placed in the 50- and 100-yard dash and 4x50 and 4x100 relay track events as an anchor, and in many summer reading programs. 

I moved to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1991, to attend Illinois State University and raise my daughter. I didn’t plan on fraud fighting as a career; I aspired to be an attorney. But as a single parent, I needed more income. I explored career opportunities beyond my retail supervisory position, which is what initially led me to insurance. After gaining experience in roles in underwriting, marketing, claims and as a marketing specialist in an agent’s office, I researched professions that would foster my curiosity for crime solving and enhance my understanding of subjects’ motives for engaging in nefarious activities. 

In 2008, I was selected to lead a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) team that investigated auto and property claims, or external fraud. My passion for fraud fighting grew when I led a team responsible for investigating employee and agent fraud, or internal fraud. These experiences positioned me for additional opportunities in the fraud-fighting space, including becoming a subject-matter resource in building fraud risk management programs and fraud risk governance. 

I’m currently an assistant vice president of compliance at Horace Mann Insurance Company. I lead multiple teams who consult on compliance matters and governance, including fraud risk management, anti-money laundering, privacy, investigations and incident management. I help provide an organizational framework for overseeing the identification, prevention, detection, investigation, and reporting of suspected fraud and money laundering. 

I also assist in establishing clear roles, responsibilities and accountability to help ensure that fraud and money laundering risks are managed consistently and according to regulatory requirements and company standards.

I’ve been working in the insurance industry for more than 25 years. I have additional experience in risk management, compliance and auditing, and I’m knowledgeable in facilitating fraud risk assessments. I’m also an experienced speaker for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and the Insurance Fraud Management Conference, and I co-lead a fraud risk management task force and sit on the executive committee for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.  

When I’m alerted to a suspected fraud incident, the triage team will gather to assess the risk. Depending on that assessment, other tasks may include examining the cause, engaging law enforcement, interviewing involved or affected parties, reporting to the state and other regulators, remediating the incident, and implementing ongoing monitoring and enhanced controls. I may coordinate with key stakeholders and teams to help ensure that there’s appropriate coverage to address the threat and risk.

One of the most interesting cases that I’ve consulted on was a business email compromise (BEC) case in which multiple business-area stakeholders missed obvious red flags. These included a voicemail from an executive leader alerting that their email had been compromised, an altered email domain that closely resembled the company’s name and a request for an electronic payment to be sent to a newly added overseas account. I assisted the company in improving anti-fraud education for employees and enhancing fraud controls. 

In the anti-fraud field, I’ve learned the importance of being diligent and thorough when documenting evidence, as the information may be crucial for future reliance. Beyond requiring that examinations are completed under oath for investigative purposes, I’ve had to testify on a company’s behalf. Documentation is essential to a solid defense. File notes should be fact-based without stating an opinion. Authorities will determine whether someone has committed fraud, and until that time the alleged fraud is considered suspicious or the indicators are unresolved. 

When I became an SIU leader, I researched industry organizations and credentials that could help me grow in the anti-fraud profession and position me to become a credible resource. The ACFE with the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential was a top result. I also earned a Master of Business Administration in economic crime and fraud management from Utica University. The CFE credential provided credibility and enabled me to become a subject-matter expert and speaker at national and local conferences.

My career advice for those starting out in the fraud-fighting field is that it’s OK to be a professional skeptic. A little customer friction may be necessary for an effective, holistic fraud risk management strategy. However, it’s important to have a balanced perspective. Be diligent and assertive about your educational and career development, get involved with industry organizations, and be open to different opportunities. Identify and surround yourself with mentors who will challenge you, seek out and obtain relevant credentials to build your acumen, and network to strengthen your advocacy as a fraud fighter. 

A challenge I’ve faced in the fraud-fighting field is navigating the need to simultaneously educate and influence an organization to be more proactive in managing fraud risk when the organization hasn’t fully documented the risk and quantifiable numbers may not be readily available. Persistence is key. Manage the associated activities in bite-sized chunks and celebrate the small wins. I also recommend partnering with adjacent disciplines who have funding, such as IT or cybersecurity, to present fraud risk-related initiatives or business cases as a joint strategy.  

My greatest achievement has been raising my daughter as a single teenage parent and guiding her to become a successful and productive citizen of society. My mother died of lung cancer when I was 16, and I found out I was pregnant two months later. While raising my daughter, I was honored as salutatorian in my class, the second-highest academic rank in my high school. I graduated college in just three-and-a-half years. 

Outside of work, I enjoy shopping, going to concerts, listening to music, line dancing and traveling with my daughter. My favorite place to visit is the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Other memorable experiences include trips to Jamaica, Bali, Dubai and Japan. 

Anna Brahce, CFE, is the assistant editor of Fraud Magazine. Contact her at abrahce@ACFE.com.