Mr. Big of The Big Big Company sees that sales will miss the projected sales volume for the year that the company made public to wall street gurus. Fearing that the stock will go down in price if the company issues statements that miss the projected volume Mr. Big asks his sales department (not the accounting department) to help make the "numbers" before the close of the year. The sales department tells Mr. Big that because of Covid their customers do not need to order more product at this time. Mr. Big tells them to get "creative" and "make it happen", and they do and the numbers match the projected sales volume...fictitiously

1 - what category of fraud is this?

2 - What is the interesting statistic about this kind of fraud in terms of frequency and cost?

3 - describe two ways to make the numbers without having to involve the customers

4 - describe how the company can "make the numbers" with the cooperation of customers

5 - what government agency will investigate this?

6- under what criminal statute(s) will the perpetrators be most likely charged with?