FOLLOWING THE EVIDENCE: A Defensive Guide to Financial Records, Fraud Signals, Transaction Trails, and Lawful Reporting

When a suspicious transaction, urgent invoice, or identity alert lands in your lap, the first minutes feel like a storm. FOLLOWING THE EVIDENCE is a calm, visual guide to those moments and the hours that follow. Instead of asking you to become an investigator, André Kologeski teaches an evidence-literacy method you can use right away: preserve what you have, build a clear chronology, separate facts from claims and inferences, verify through known-good channels, report with precision, and protect privacy as you go. The book's charts, diagrams, and worksheets do the heavy lifting-turning confusion into steps, decisions, and shareable documentation. You will learn how to read statements, receipts, confirmations, and invoices for what they actually show; how to practice light chain-of-custody at home and at work; and how to recognize when a red flag is a prompt to slow down rather than proof of wrongdoing. With fictional, annotated examples and practical templates, this guide supports fraud and scam victims, families and caregivers, small-business owners, journalists, students, and anyone who wants to navigate financial uncertainty responsibly. It does not replace legal, financial, accounting, cybersecurity, medical, or law-enforcement professionals, and it does not promise detection or recovery. It helps you follow the evidence you do have-calmly, methodically, and lawfully-so the right people can help you in time.