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
Although financial institutions worldwide step up their efforts in fighting criminals from using their systems for money laundering, 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 two
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
Payvision B.V./Rudolf 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
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
In a further setback for efforts to combat money laundering and financial crime, Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca Mora, the beneficial owners and directors of the infamous Mossack Fonseca, were acquitted of all charges by a Panama court (Baloísa Marquínez) on 29 June 2024. The defendants were accused of money
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
