Due to the significant rise in online fraud, particularly in losses from Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud in the UK, a new mandatory reimbursement scheme for APP fraud victims will be implemented. It introduces a legal requirement for payment service providers to refund victims for losses incurred when they are
On 11 September 2024, the 8th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies, co-organised by the Basel Institute on Governance, Europol, and the UNODC, took place in Vienna. One of the primary topics of discussion was the increasingly concerning role of cryptocurrencies in the online gambling and casino industry. As
Investors lost a record $5.6 billion to crypto-related financial crime in 2023, up 45 per cent from 2022, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) published recently. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints received by IC3 represents only about 10 per
For years, Telegram has been recognised as a hotspot for financial cybercrime. Cybercrime is thriving on Telegram, the popular messaging platform, with an increasing number of cybercriminal actors choosing the encrypted messaging app as a viable alternative to the dark web. For cybercriminals to shop on Telegram, there are both
The United Nations has finalised a draft for a new cybercrime convention, marking the first multilateral anti-crime treaty in over 20 years and the first UN Convention against cybercrime. This draft, expected to be adopted by the General Assembly later this year, aims to become the first global legally binding
A due diligence of VELTYCO Group PLC (nowadays: B90 Holdings plc) done by the founder of EFRI resulted in the arrest of Uwe LENHOFF and Gal BARAK and the blow up of their investment scams (option888, xmarkets, zoomtrader, xtraderfx, safemarkets, optionstarsglobal) as of the end of January 2019 (for more
Recovery scammers are probably even worse than the original scammers! When victims realise they have been scammed, they are desperate and searching for help. This is when recovery scammers, having purchased the customers’ (victims) lists from the original scammers, show up and offer help for a substantial prepayment. Only to
The payments landscape has undergone significant changes over the past decade. Fast-paced technological advancements have mainly driven the changes. Electronic payments in the EU have steadily increased, reaching a value of €240 trillion in 2021 (compared to €184.2 trillion in 2017). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. This shift
As previously discussed, United Kingdom is undeniably the frontrunner in financial crime in Europe. Being one of the global headquarters for financial services comes with a high price for the British people. In 2023, according to the UK Finance Fraud Report 2024, Britons lost approximately £459.7 million to Authorised Push
On April 5, 2024, the Dutch Prosecutor announced that the criminal charges against Payvision’s board members had been settled out of court. Booker and his colleague Cheng Liem Li were found to have (2016 – April 2020) structurally and for many years violated the European Know Your Customer rules and
