Due to the significant rise in online fraud, particularly losses from Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams in the UK, a new mandatory reimbursement scheme for APP fraud victims will be implemented starting on October 7, 2024. This scheme introduces a legal requirement for payment service providers to refund victims for
On September 11, 2024, the 8th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies, co-organized 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% from 2022, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) published recenty. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints received by IC3 represents only about 10 percent of the
Although financial institutions worldwide step up their efforts in fighting criminals from using their systems for money laundering, still more than 99% of money laundering proceeds remain in the hands of criminal gangs. It’s not just the massive amounts of money that go unseized that’s troubling (UNODC estimates that between
For years Telegram has been known to be a financial cybercrime hotspot. Cybercrime is thriving on Telegram, the popular messaging platform, with more and more cybercriminals actors choosing the encrypted messaging app as a viable alternative to the deep and dark web. For cybercriminals to shop on Telegram has both
The United Nations has finalized 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
Payvision/BOOKER is now known to have been the primary payment service provider for the fraudulent websites of the Wolf of Sofia and Uwe Lenhoff’ from 2016 to 2019. Less well-known, but equally significant, is the fact that Payvision (a subsidiary of one of Europe’s largest banks, the Dutch ING) has
Recovery scammers are probably even worse as the original scammers! When victims realize that they got scammed they are desparate and are searching for help. This is when recovery scammers – having bought the customer (victims) lists from the original scammers – show up and offer help for a substantial
In a further setback against money laundering and financial crime, Jürgen Mossack and Fonseca Mora, the beneficial owners and directors of the infamous Mossack Fonseca, were acquitted of all charges by a Panama court (Baloísa Marquínez) on June 29, 2024. The defendants were accused of money laundering by establishing 215,000
EFRI is the abbreviation for European Funds Recovery Initiative. The legal entity behind this Initiative is a not-for-profit organisation (EFRI-Association) registered in Vienna, Austria. Here you can read the statutes of the not-for-profit organization. Read More
