The Egmont Group is pleased to announce the release of the Illicit Finance from Cyber-Enabled Fraud (CEF) Report in collaboration with the FATF and Interpol.
This report, which is the first to be released jointly by the three organisations, reflects a strong collective commitment to tackling transnational organised criminals and their networks. The report examines illicit financing arising from fraud enabled by or conducted through the cyber environment and aims to enhance competent authorities’ risk understanding of the threat posed by CEF.
“Working together with our partner organisations, FATF and INTERPOL, on significant initiatives like the Illicit Finance from Cyber-Enabled Fraud report, the Egmont Group is dedicated to supporting Financial Intelligence Units in addressing the growing dangers associated with cyber-enabled fraud.”
– Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, Interim Chair of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units
About the report:
Cyber-enabled fraud (CEF) has increased significantly internationally, with many jurisdictions reporting consistent growth in recent years. Digitalisation has enabled CEF criminals to expand their scale, scope, and speed of operation. Criminal syndicates linked to CEF are often well-structured into distinct subgroups, each with a specialized area of criminal expertise, such as money laundering. It further complicates efforts to investigate CEF activities since it is loosely organised and decentralised across different jurisdictions.
Recognising the many variations of such fraud, this report focuses on the following types of criminal activity (referred to collectively as cyber-enabled fraud (CEF)):
- Business Email Compromise (BEC) Fraud
- Phishing Fraud
- Social Media and Telecommunication Impersonation Fraud
- Online Trading/Trading Platform Fraud
- Online Romance Fraud
- Employment Scams
Timely and effective international cooperation between FIUs and their partner law enforcement authorities remains critical for the successful tackling of CEF cases. This allows not only the disruption of the criminal networks but also the repatriation of funds to the victims.
In order to help public and private sector organizations identify and stop CEF and related money laundering, this vital report provides a list of risk indicators as well as practical anti-fraud requirements and controls.
