--- title: 'Accounts Deceivable Podcast Series: Season 2, Episode 2 - Paper Trail' url: https://www.medius.com/videos/finance-insights/accounts-deceivable-podcast-series-season-2-episode-2-paper-trail/ updated: 2026-09-30T15:00:44Z --- # Accounts Deceivable Podcast Series: Season 2, Episode 2 - Paper Trail Working for a logging company, Kerry was the only pair of eyes on the company's books and invoices. Would she be able to get away with pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars to help her start a new life? ### Transcript * * * Speaker 1 Before we start, this episode deals with sensitive subjects such as domestic violence that some listeners may find distressing. Speaker 2 Waiting for them to come and arrest me was probably the the worst part of the whole procedure basically, because you're constantly looking at, you know, any car that drives past, know, any noise, any phone call, know, you don't know when they're going to come, but you knew they're coming. Speaker 1 Welcome to season two of Accounts Deceivable, a podcast about a growing category of white collar crime, invoice fraud, and the devastating impact it has on people, companies, and communities. Through interviews with victims, perpetrators, and experts, this series explains how fraudsters pull off invoice fraud and exposes systemic flaws that stop people from getting justice. In this episode, we meet Kerry Tucker, a logging company bookkeeper who stole nearly $2,000,000 from her employer over a course of six years by forging checks. Kerry's story of domestic abuse, a multimillion dollar fraud, and hellish incarceration doesn't just sound like the stuff of Hollywood, it actually did inspire the writers of a hit TV show. It serves as a stark reminder that white collar criminals are made, not born, and systematic fraud can be worryingly easy to pull off. It's six a.m. on 08/09/2003, and 40 year old Kerry Tucker is sweating buckets on an exercise bike, but not for the reasons you'd think. As she looks up from her MP3 player and out the window, Kerry's knotted stomach sinks as she sees police officers crossing the parking lot to enter the gym. The moment she's been fearing and dreading for six years is finally here. But first, let's back it up a little bit. As a young girl, Kerry's childhood was anything but stable. Born in Sydney, Australia, and one of six children, she often found herself competing for attention from her parents. Her father, an accountant, died when Kerry was young, leaving her mother crippled by the weight of being the sole provider for six children. Speaker 2 My mother just couldn't cope. She just fell apart and sort of, crawled into a bottle basically. And because she couldn't cope, there wasn't a lot of attention to me and my younger brother and I just sort of felt that I just wandered through life looking for something. You know, sort of just bouncing off the walls, working out where I fit. Speaker 1 Kerry's father's death, combined with her mother's neglect, led to her developing a rebellious streak from a young age, something that caused tension with her mother. At the age of 16, Kerry's mother arranged for her to be given away at a gas station in the middle of the night, causing a major rift between the two and leaving Kerry to fend for herself from a very young age, until one day Speaker 2 And then, of course, along come this knight in shining armor, the first person that really showed attention to me. Speaker 1 The two jumped into a relationship after meeting at a bar one night, and Kerry moved to live with him in Melbourne very soon after. Upon her arrival in Melbourne, the fantasy facade of the relationship came crashing down when it was revealed that her knight in shining armor was married with two young children. Speaker 2 All of a sudden, not only did I have an ex-wife in my life, I had two small children. That, you know, when I look back at it now, they were quite bewildered by the whole thing. All of a sudden, walked out on his wife, and here I am. Speaker 1 Starting over in a new city and thrust back into a life of instability and responsibility beyond her years, resentment grew quickly in Kerry's relationship, which ultimately turned to violence. It didn't get much better following the birth of her own two daughters. Kerry admits that this violence changed her perspective on life. Speaker 2 It gives you a whole new insight and a whole new drive into how you want to get out of that sort of marriage. Speaker 1 In the shadow of domestic violence, Kerry was desperate for a way to change things in her life. She did her best to improve the relationship by removing as much friction as possible. She paid bills hypervigilantly and kept her husband's wallet full, tiptoeing on eggshells to avoid any conflict that could potentially set him off. During this time, Kerry had been working as a bookkeeper at a small logging company where she knew the owners. Healesville Logging was a local business, small and tight knit. The books were kept by one person only, Kerry, and were run the old school way, on paper. Speaker 2 The firm that I worked for didn't really believe in auditors or paying money for auditors because you know, let's be honest, they trusted me. And I let them believe in trusting me. So you know, I made a point of getting to know the accountants so that they would know me as somebody who you wouldn't look at or suspect anything from because I was helpful, but I was also somebody that you would think that you could trust because the owners trusted me. Speaker 1 Kerry was becoming increasingly desperate about her situation. She planned to leave her marriage, but she knew she would need money to do so. She was trusted at her company, knew the financial systems inside out. Perhaps, she thought, she could temporarily borrow some cash from her employer. That would allow her to look at organizing herself a divorce and a different life with her daughters. Speaker 2 Once I knew the system, it was very, very easy for me to do. Speaker 1 So one day, sitting alone in the empty shipping container that was her office, Kerry slowly looked around before pulling out the company checkbook. Speaker 2 The first time I did it, I remember it was for it was a check for $3,523 and I was just sweating the whole time. I thought I can do this. I can see the opportunity, I can see the way to do it and of course the rationale was I need to do this. So I just took a cheque, forged the signature, which was very easy to do, and banked it into my bank account. Speaker 1 Kerry's fraud was remarkably straightforward as her company did not have a formal or up to date accounting process at the time. She was able to commit this first fraud without even creating an invoice. In twenty four hours, dollars 3,523 had left the logging company's bank account and dropped into Kerry's. It was simple, it was effective, and in time it would become very addictive. Speaker 2 You know, there wasn't anything, you know, sort of ingenious about it at all because to me I thought that I would never get caught, of course. Speaker 1 Don Holm of Medius, a company that protects against invoice fraud, explains why the simplicity of Kerry's first fraud attempt is particularly concerning. Speaker 3 Invoices are a crucial part of bookkeeping for any organization. So the fact that Kerry was able to commit this fraud without even creating an invoice shows just how vulnerable her employer had made itself without even having a real financial system in place. Typically, who commit invoice fraud will create a phony invoice and assume that whoever looks after the paperwork won't be checking every last detail. In Kerry's case, she was unchecked in her work environment and her employer had no person or system standing in between her and the company's checking account. So creating a false invoice wasn't even required. Speaker 2 I waited about three weeks just to see if there was any ramifications. That was the worst time because I wasn't sure if I was going to get caught and what would happen to me if I got caught. Speaker 1 After those three stressful weeks passed, a weight was lifted off of Kerry's chest. She had committed the crime successfully without any questioning or blowback. She realized it would be easy to replicate the process, stealing bigger amounts more regularly. Speaker 2 In my rationale, I was making sure that I was taking money to be able to cover any bills. Speaker 1 As time went on, it became easier and easier for Kerry mentally to continue committing this fraud, justifying her crimes by telling herself she was doing it to create a harmonious environment at home. Speaker 2 I just thought it would make things a lot easier if we had a bit more money. It was purely driven by my desire to make things better. Speaker 1 Each time she wrote a new check, Kerry's newly formed habit grew stronger, and her tactics became more sophisticated and discreet along with it. Speaker 2 I started thinking if I'm doing this I'm going to need to be able to cover my tracks more effectively because remembering too that you know I wouldn't have to do it for that long because I was always going to pay it back. It was very easy to use invoices to disguise payments and those checks just went straight into my account you know and I would hide it in the balance sheet. Speaker 1 Except Kerry didn't even need to create a full fake invoice to carry out this invoice fraud. Just a number. Speaker 2 I just put in an invoice number and whatnot and make a payment against it. No one ever checked to see if that invoice actually existed because it was buried amongst you know 100,000 worth of invoices. Speaker 1 You've heard Kerry mention twice now that it was always her plan to pay the money back. Although it may be surprising, the notion of paying it back is a common theme in fraudsters. Kerry's intention from the get go was to return the money she had defrauded from the company. She even went as far as purchasing numerous lottery tickets each week, spending $300 at a time to try and win the money back so that she could return it. Did Kerry ever win the lottery and return the money? We'll find out. Before then, a brief word from our sponsor, Medius. Speaker 4 Invoice fraud is costing businesses billions of dollars every year. As cyber attacks grow in sophistication, more and more companies are accidentally paying thousands, even millions in bogus invoices. Medius is an accounts payable software platform that enables finance professionals to combat invoice scams by protecting the integrity of their supplier data, auditing the invoice process in real time, and monitoring for insider fraud. For more information or a demo, visit [www.medius.com](https://www.medius.com/ "www.medius.com"). Speaker 1 We'll save you the suspense. Kerry never did win the lottery and never did pay the money back. While she'd occasionally slip money back in to cover credits on the business account and ensure the balance was enough to make payroll, the fraud continued for six years. Throughout that time, the amounts Kerry stole remained relatively constant, never slipping below $1,200 and never rising above $7,000 to avoid raising any alarms. Speaker 2 There were never any really you know amazingly big checks of 20,000 or anything like that you know. One, I didn't I would never have done that because that seemed exorbitant and I know this doesn't make sense at all but in one transaction that seemed exorbitant, know. Speaker 1 As we know, Kerry's paper cut checks added up to a big bleed for the business, approximately $2,000,000 over six years. Here's Don from Medius on this. Speaker 3 Businesses need to safeguard themselves against crime like this, and it's actually pretty easy to do. The crimes Kerry was committing were transactions that would have been flagged internally if the business had proper procedures and software in place. A siloed bookkeeper and lack of internal process controls, combined with the fact that everything was being documented solely on paper, made it easy for Kerry to commit this crime so many times over the course of six years. Speaker 1 Lack of accountability and standardized internal processes explain why Kerry was able to commit the fraud. But a big question remains. How did Kerry spend the money that she stole? Speaker 2 One of the most outrageous things I spent it on was I'd take friends away for a weekend to either Mildura or to Queensland because I wanted to repay their kindness for standing beside me, you know, with the marriage breakdown and all that sort of stuff. I still wanted them to think that I was a woman in control, so I was, you know, handling my life and all that sort of stuff. Know, after all of this, I still didn't own my home. I owed $13,000 on my car. I'd never had overseas trips. Speaker 1 Kerry's fraud went undetected until one fateful day when a check bounced. A partner was made aware of the insufficient funds and called to the police to report fraud. Speaker 2 So when the check bounced, there should have been, you know, at least $500,000 in the account, know, but there wasn't because that would have been the stolen amount of money that I had. So when the check bounced it was very obvious, something's amiss. Speaker 1 Another partner, who was a friend of Kerry's, quickly warned her that she'd become a person of interest. Kerry reflects back on the time between this harrowing warning and what happened next. Speaker 2 The time between that and waiting for them to come and arrest me was probably the worst part of the whole procedure basically because you're constantly looking at you know any car that drives past, know any noise, any phone call, know you don't know when they're going to come, but you knew they're coming. Speaker 1 This brings us to the moment we began on the exercise bike. On 08/09/2003, Kerry Tucker was at her typical six a.m. gym session when she looked up from her spin bike to see two police officers walking towards her. Speaker 2 They walked straight through, straight past the receptionist. They obviously knew that I was there. I'd been under surveillance. They walked straight in and this officer in plain clothes said to me, are you Kerry Tucker? And I said to him, yes, I am. Speaker 1 From the gym, Kerry was taken to be questioned, where she admitted to the crime and was taken into custody. Through a lengthy trial process, Kerry remained in custody and was sentenced to five years in prison and two years of parole following her release. The hardest part for Kerry was being away from her two little girls and the trauma of telling them what had happened. Speaker 2 Whatever rationale you've said, whatever you've convinced yourself, you know, you know you're responsible and you don't think of who it hurts because you're never going to get caught. I wanted my girls to feel proud of me again, not be embarrassed to be seen with me. So that moment sits with me and always will. Speaker 1 Despite struggling to be away from her daughters, Kerry found life in prison to be healing. When she was initially admitted, she was examined by a forensic psychologist and diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, brought on by the trauma of her marriage and the stress of her fraud. Just two years into her sentence, Kerry was reexamined and showed no markers for the disorder. Speaker 2 I fitted in very, very well because I felt like I deserved to be there. I felt every bit, if not more, guilty about my crime than the girls that were in on drug crimes. Know, I felt that they were treated worse than I was, but I felt that my crime was worse than theirs. Speaker 1 While in prison, Kerry worked to receive her Masters of Arts. Following her release, she went on to receive her PhD and penned a book entitled "The Prisoner" based on her time incarcerated. After her release from prison, her diary was used as inspiration by Hollywood script writers for a TV miniseries called Wentworth. The show ran for eight straight seasons, and Kerry was engaged throughout as an authenticity consultant. Kerry is also a university lecturer, a charity ambassador, and active public speaker on topics including fraud and prison reform. In fact, in recognition of her work in raising awareness on fraud, Kerry's criminal sentence was removed by the Victoria Magistrates Court in November 2023. She became the first woman in Australian history to have a prison sentence removed from her record. When it comes to what businesses can learn from her story, Kerry has a few thoughts. Number one is not to blindly trust whoever does your books. Speaker 2 With small businesses, it's more effective to have one person doing everything and that's obviously just the biggest mistake because you're across everything so therefore you know how to hide everything. The only people that can deceive you the most are the people that you trust the most. It's pretty simple in that, know, and people that are committing fraud construct an image that you know you'll almost feel guilty asking about a suspicious transaction. Speaker 1 Don agrees. Speaker 3 At Medius, we actually believe in what we call the four eyes principle. You should have two sets of eyes on everything that occurs. Even in the technology system, you need something that will alert you to anomalies that happen. There's also a big thing about separation of duties. You shouldn't just have one person who's able to create an invoice number and then pay it, like Kerry did. That's a big no-no. Speaker 1 Kerry's story is a grim reminder that businesses of all sizes need to ensure they have the systems and processes in place to protect their organization from fraud, even from the inside. Kerry's company trusted her as an employee and a friend, leaving her to oversee financial processes completely unchecked. As a result, she was able to steal nearly $2,000,000 over six years. It happened to them, and it can happen to you. For more chilling stories from victims and fraudsters alike, check out the Accounts Deceivable podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get your audio fix. ## Explore more: ### [Explore Medius Fraud & Risk Detection](https://www.medius.com/solutions/fraud-risk-detection/ "Medius Fraud and Risk Detection") De-risk your spend and gain visibility and control across the invoice to pay lifecycle. 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