Financial Crime World

Money Laundering: The Silent Partner in Financial Crime

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Money laundering is often the unsung hero in the world of financial crime, playing a crucial role in enabling hundreds, if not thousands, of other types of fraud and scams. For authorities and legislators, this means putting immense pressure on institutions to block and catch money mules and fraudsters.

Battling Financial Crime: A Multifaceted Approach

To combat financial crime, international and national authorities are working together through research and legislation. Specific types of organizations, such as banks, estate agents, and iGaming companies, are mandated to know their customers and be held accountable for allowing financial crime on their platforms.

Strategies and Solutions

Companies have developed various strategies, solutions, and individual tools to combat economic crime, including:

  • KYC (Know Your Customer) and Onboarding Tools: Specialized software helps confirm a customer’s identity during the initial sign-up process.
  • Identity Verification Software (IDV): This preventative measure verifies a customer’s identity by examining the validity of presented evidence.
  • Transaction Monitoring & AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Software: Financial institutions monitor transactions for suspicious activity, exceeding set minimum amounts, and other due diligence measures.
  • End-to-End Risk/Fraud Prevention Software: This technology identifies and prevents fraudulent behavior, often used in conjunction with a wider risk stack.
  • Authentication Protocols: Strong authentication checks ensure the person logging in is the legitimate account owner, preventing account takeover attacks.
  • Compliance Suites: These solutions address organizations’ compliance obligations, minimizing the risk of hefty fines and ensuring seamless operations across different locales.

The Importance of Proactive Measures

When a company detects suspected fraud or financial crime, it’s essential to act quickly. This often involves blocking the user from completing their transaction, followed by an investigation into what happened, how it occurred, and how to prevent future incidents.

Learning from these experiences is key. Investigations should result in changes and improvements to a company’s risk strategy, ensuring proactive measures are taken to prevent similar occurrences.

SEON: A Leader in Financial Crime Prevention

As a fraud prevention company, SEON offers robust security and user-friendliness, making it an attractive solution for financial organizations. Its technology can:

  • Complement KYC and Cut Costs: Identify obvious fraudsters and reduce costs associated with manual review.
  • Assist in Transaction Monitoring and AML: Help financial institutions monitor transactions for suspicious activity and comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
  • Prevent Multi-Accounting Attempts: Block attempts to open multiple accounts, enabling money laundering.
  • Block Account Takeover Attacks: Prevent unauthorized access to customer accounts.
  • Flag Suspicious Users: Identify users based on their hardware and software, flagging potential fraudsters.
  • Identify Provable Legitimate Customers: Minimize friction for legitimate customers while preventing fraudulent activity.

FAQ

Top 3 Financial Crimes

  • Money laundering
  • Embezzlement
  • Identity theft

What is a Financial Crime Investigation?

A financial crime investigation is an inquiry into the specifics of an instance of financial crime, often conducted by local police, federal authorities, Interpol, Europol, or companies themselves.

How is Financial Crime Linked to Terrorism?

Terrorism financing and money laundering for/from terrorism are types of financial crimes. Giving money to these causes is a financial crime in itself.