Interpol's new assessment of global financial fraud highlights how the increased use of technology is enabling organized crime groups to better target victims around the world. I am.
Combining artificial intelligence (AI), large-scale language models, and cryptocurrencies with phishing and ransomware-as-a-service business models allows for more sophisticated expertise without the need for advanced technical skills and at relatively low cost. A fraudulent campaign has been realized. .
The analysis behind Interpol's Global Financial Fraud Assessment finds that human trafficking for the purposes of call center coercion, particularly “pig butchering” fraud, a hybrid scam that combines romance and investment fraud using cryptocurrencies, It also points out that human trafficking for carrying out crimes is expanding worldwide.
Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said: “We are facing an epidemic of financial fraud, with individuals, often vulnerable people, and businesses being defrauded on a large scale and on a global scale.
“Changes in technology and the rapid increase in the scale and volume of organized crime are creating a variety of new ways to defraud innocent people, businesses, and even governments. Without action, the situation will only get worse.
“It is important that there are no safe havens for financial fraudsters to operate. We need to close existing gaps and ensure that information sharing across sectors and across borders is the norm rather than the exception.
“We also need to encourage increased reporting of financial crimes, as well as invest in law enforcement capacity building and training to develop a more effective and truly global response. .”
The report will be launched by the Secretary-General at the UK Government's Financial Fraud Summit in London.
key findent
Other key findings from this report for law enforcement only include:
- The most prevalent trends globally are investment fraud, advance payment fraud, romance fraud, and business email fraud.
- Financial fraud is most often carried out by a network of accomplices, ranging from highly organized to loosely coordinated.
- There is an urgent need to strengthen data collection and analysis to develop more informed and effective counterstrategies.
To effectively combat this globally escalating crime and fill critical information gaps, one of the report's recommendations is to implement a multi-stakeholder approach to tracking and recovering funds lost to financial fraud. There is a need to build public-private partnerships.
Since the launch of Interpol's International Rapid Payments Intervention (I-GRIP) payment suspension mechanism in 2022, the agency has intercepted more than $500 million in proceeds of crime in member states, primarily stemming from cyber-based fraud. We have been supporting the
Regional trends in financial fraud
Africa
While business email compromise remains one of the most prevalent trends in Africa, the use of pig slaughter scams is also on the rise. Cases of this type of fraud have been identified in West and Southern Africa targeting victims in other jurisdictions beyond the African continent.
Certain West African criminal groups such as Black Ax, Airlords, and Supreme Aiye continue to grow across borders and have extensive skills in online financial fraud, including romance fraud, investment fraud, advance payment fraud, and cryptocurrency fraud. It is known that
Americas
The most common types of fraud across the Americas are identity theft, romance, tech support, advance payment, and wire fraud.
Human trafficking fraud continues to be a growing criminal phenomenon. Operation Turquesa V, an Interpol-coordinated operation, saw hundreds of victims lured through messaging apps and social media platforms and forced to commit fraud, including investment fraud and pig slaughter, before fleeing the region. It was revealed that it had been sold.
New evidence has emerged that Latin American criminal organizations such as Comando Vermelho, Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) are also involved in financial fraud.
Asia
The pig slaughter scam scheme began in Asia in 2019 and expanded during the coronavirus pandemic. Asia has since emerged as a focus, with criminal organizations in the region's poorer countries adopting business-like structures.
Another type of fraud that has proliferated in recent years in Asia is a type of telecommunications fraud in which perpetrators impersonate law enforcement officers or bank officials to trick victims into disclosing credit card or bank account credentials. , or handing over large sums of money.
Europe
Online investment scams, phishing, and other online financial fraud schemes are escalating against carefully selected targets to maximize profits. Mobile phone apps are also a target for cybercriminals.
The criminal networks involved in these online schemes typically exhibit sophisticated and complex techniques that combine different types of fraud.
In Southeast Asia, pig slaughter, which is mainly carried out in call centers, is also on the rise.
