New trend of "FinCrime-as-a-Service" to crime gangs is one of police's main concerns

According to police officials throughout the world, money laundering is the biggest crime threat globally.

Police chiefs have also expressed concern about the growth of "financial crime-as-a-service," which includes digital tools for money laundering that may be essential for criminals looking to cash in.

Money laundering was identified as a "high" or "very high" issue by 67% of police organizations in a poll that Interpol released on Wednesday.

At 66%, ransomware ranked as the second-highest danger and was predicted to become more prevalent in crime (72 per cent).

According to a statement from Interpol, "financial crimes and cybercrime are invariably linked, as a significant amount of financial fraud takes place through digital technologies (making it ‘cyber-enabled’) and cybercriminals also depend on financial fraud to launder their illicit gains."

In this way, "cybercrime-as-a-service" is a well-known criminal idea, but "financial crime-as-a-service" has also emerged more quickly as a result of the epidemic.

The report, which is only available to law enforcement, combines data from the 195 member nations of the international police organization with information and in-depth analysis from the organization's data holdings and other sources.

The organization claims that crime has gone online and that cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment fraud, CEO fraud, company email breach, and impersonation fraud by hackers have increased globally. The "big game" targets of today's ransomware assaults include important infrastructure, significant organizations, and governments.

Strategies have changed to include tactics like double extortion, which encrypts victims' data or files while threatening to expose them to the public, increasing the danger of company interruption and reputational injury.

The Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), headed by Director Rory Corcoran, was established by Interpol earlier this year.

The goal of the center is to offer a coordinated international response to the exponential rise in transnational financial crime.

The IFCACC-coordinated "Jackal" operation, which authorities targeted the West African-based "Black Axe" cybercrime and money laundering organization with last week, led to 75 arrests across 14 nations. The police claimed to have seized "more than $1M and invaluable assets and intelligence along the way."

The General Assembly, which will gather this week in New Delhi, has been asked to approve a resolution on improving Interpol's response to financial crime through expanded member country participation.

According to Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, "understanding and pre-empting crime trends is an absolute bedrock of policing, and INTERPOL’s Global Crime Trend report offers an unparalleled picture of the global crime landscape as seen by police officers around the world."

The biggest criminal danger in the APAC area was identified as financial crime, especially financial fraud (76%) and money laundering (67%) coupled with the trafficking of synthetic narcotics, which was seen as a high or very high threat by 67% of respondents.

Phishing and online scams (62%), money laundering (60%) and synthetic drug trafficking (57%) are the top three threats presently confronting Europe, according to the respondents.

Online scams, ransomware, and compromised business emails were all highlighted by more than 60% of respondents, placing cybercrime at the top of the list of crimes that regional law enforcement considers to be future concerns in North America.

Phishing and online scams were seen as the largest present danger (83%) and the crime most likely to rise in the next three to five years in the Middle East/Africa area (72 per cent).

Numerous benefits have come to the continent as a result of the pioneering role that African nations have played in mobile money transactions and the digitization of the financial industry. But this quick expansion has also resulted in a substantial rise in cryptocurrency frauds, credit card fraud, and online banking fraud.

By fLEXI tEAM