Can we detect a fraud in the early stages ?

According to me if we empower our law and order to an extent that will install the ultimate fear in every  person who thinks to do unscrupulous activities. like in old Arabian culture there was a law that I heard many times and the law was "Gustakhi ki saza maut" means if you do wrong you are dead. I don't mean that all the fraudulent persons are to be hanged but the punishment has to be intensely severe and rigorous kind of. Then nobody will even think of doing those mistakes and the fraud will be prevented completely rather than detection it is always way better to have measures for prevention, actually less time killer.

Yes, fraud can be detected using technology (software tools) and the ministry of corporate affairs in india , I think is in the process of installing an early warning system but ultimately it is up to we humans who decide what to do.

Also - not all people are fortunate to be alive or even live peacefully after detecting a fraud.

Even observing some people can give valuable clues to the ongoing frauds.  I remember when I was handling credit in Regional Office and went to a branch to have a look at the non-performing loans.  While glancing through the ledger, I had an uncomfortable feeling of something amiss.  The branch manager was trying to make small talk.  I wanted to take a look at the documents.  But the manager was hesitant and told me that the central office inspection took place last week and found everything right.  I briefed this to our Regional Manager and a special inspection was done.  All the loans were found to be given to bogus people.  And securities- grossly overvalued - if it was existing.

fraud always happen only by collusion. in such cases identifying frauds are difficult. the only approach is communicating with the persons in different intervals in different ways is the only way out where a chance may be there to detect the fraud.  This is what you said and i completely agree.

fraud, scam, what ever name you give it is made by humans and the driven force is money and greed. we can`t expect all to be honest. that is why society built a security system called police, court to control criminal deeds.  

what wrong we doing always setting up a system to control criminal deeds and excavate criminal acts, but never find a solution to prevent it from happening.

build systems to prevent, analyse, clear loops, strengthen it and most important strict implementation and feedback.  we can prevent fraud.

Email frauds seeking critical information to update Bank database is one such major scam reported. Almost all the account holders of nationalised and private banks in India and abroad are victims of this.  You know, there are over 29 domain names for Barclays Bank, fraudulently created by fraudsters from Nigeria.  You have witnessed citi bank fraud recently.  Without the connivance of insider, many of these frauds can hardly happen.  Satyam saga would have started off on a very small note, but have gone beyond proportions.  SEBI violations are quite common these days.  Many of the corporates are having multiple ways to snub the scanners.  One Chartered Accountant with a malafide intention can make our corporate laws go in tizzy!  We have witnessed Harshad Mehta, colluding with a number of top bureaucrats, similary, Ketan Parikh.  Do you think they would have done these frauds without the help of the CAs, and the legal professionals?

If there is a will to contain them, there could be many methods to handle!