Look out for a new Web site that could help employees fraudulently fill out expense reports.
The site’s called Expense-A-Steak, and it’s run by a New York City steakhouse for the purpose of — you guessed it — helping customers bilk their employers into paying for expensive meals. Here’s how it works:
The customer spends a few hundred dollars on filet mignon and a few martinis for himself and some “business associates.” Knowing that receipt will draw plenty of attention from the accounts payable department, he enters the amount into Expense-A-Steak, which spreads the cost out over several phony receipts.
The receipts, delivered as a PDF that users can print out, include phony tabs for taxi rides, sandwiches, stationery and other small items that could fly under accounting’s radar. They even have typical receipt flaws like dog-eared corners and that running-out-of-ink fuzziness.
The restaurant sees it as a marketing ploy at a time when the recession is hitting higher-priced eateries. The goal is to get a little PR buzz, not aid real fraud. As a restaurant spokesman has said “We know people have gotten a kick out of it and the restaurant has been busy.”
A great joke – but you might want to give a heads-up to the accounting department.
