Our latest event, kindly sponsored by Kroll, was another resounding success. Focussing on Money Launderers’ secrets exposed, we had two fantastic speakers from Kroll and the National Crime Agency.
Chis Ives, from Kroll covered some of the theory of Money Laundering including the 3 stages of placement, layering and integration which allows the criminal to move funds, conceal and eventually get access to these funds.
Chris mentioned that money laundering can seem complicated but it doesn’t need to be. Bribery and corruption has now moved on, in that the less obvious payments (for example politicians getting money paid into their bank accounts), are now decreasing. We are now seeing greater sophistication with different systems used to pay and hide transactions. For example billing out slush funds with false invoicing or buying assets on the fraudsters behalf such as paying school fees, are proving more popular.
There will always be corruption, but how do we handle it? It pays to think like a crook to try and trace the funds to recover and discover them. Organisations need to ensure they are managing their internal and external threats.
Chris mentioned a real rise in social engineering fraud as individuals are hacked. Scams such as the CEO scam are becoming popular. This will involve a member of staff in finance being contacted and entrusted with a ‘secret project’. The spoof email will come from the CEO and ask the staff member to transfer funds to an overseas bank account. They will use information that is in the public domain and increase the amounts progressively until someone notices.
Chris is finding that cybercrime remains a big threat to UK business. For example using a simple phishing scam, the fraudsters will need domestic account mules. They will use low value amounts which are not picked up by the banking system and the mule then takes the money out and transfers via Western Union, obviously taking their cut first!
To bear in mind however is that the more complex the scheme, the more people involved and therefore the more kinks in their trail.
We have some fantastic new events coming up that are worth checking out. On 20th October in London we have Island Getaway: Demystifying Offshore Fraud Investigations. Our speakers will explain the reality of locating and recovering assets from offshore jurisdictions.
Fraud Women’s Network will also be holding a regional event in Birmingham on 12th November, At What Cost: Corporate Government & Compliance. This joint event with DLA Piper will consider the issues arising from the expansion in Asia of fictional company Epticom, where a cultural shift in the company sparks unfamiliar multi-jurisdictional regulatory and legal challenges, including fraud, bribery and insider dealing, for board members and senior staff.
For more information and to register for these events, please visit our events page.
