Indonesia Faces Surge in Digital Financial Crimes: UNODC Addresses Challenges in Webinar
Online, 19-20 April 2022
Exploring Digital Financial Threat Landscape and Law Enforcement Strategies
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized a two-day virtual webinar on digital financial crimes in Indonesia. Almost two hundred participants from various sectors attended the event, which addressed the rising trend of digital financial crimes such as credit card fraud, online scams, identity theft, and terrorism financing.
Vulnerabilities of Digital Technologies to Organized Crime
Mr. Fithriadi Muslim, Acting Deputy of Prevention at Indonesia’s Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), emphasized the susceptibility of digital technologies to organized crime. He noted that the ease of opening digital accounts, high-speed transactions, and real-time privacy features make financial services vulnerable. PPATK data revealed a significant increase in fraud cases: from 9,801 in 2019 to an estimated 23,000 in 2021.
Equipping Law Enforcement Agencies with Necessary Skills
Dr. Fadil Zumhana, Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes at the Attorney General’s Office, echoed the concern, emphasizing the need for law enforcement agencies to acquire the adequate skills to obtain electronic evidence and undertake forensic analysis.
Challenges of Global Crime Networks Exploiting Digital Transformation
Ms. Hansol Park, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC, spoke about the challenges of global crime networks exploiting digital transformation. issues like phishing scams and inflated import/export transactions (Trade-Based Money-Laundering or TBML) were addressed.
Utilizing New Technologies to Combat Financial Crimes
The webinar highlighted the potential of new technologies in combatting financial crimes. Mark Caroll, Director of Criminal Justice at Optima, presented case studies of multi-jurisdictional organized crime investigations enabled by digital tools like data mapping, AFR software, and retrospective analysis.
Adopting Regulatory Technologies and International Collaboration
PPATK’s Mr. Fithriadi underlined the importance of government entities staying abreast of technological advancements to protect financial systems. He encouraged collaboration between government entities and the private sector and the adoption of regulatory technology to mitigate emerging risks.
Ms. Hansol Park spoke of the potential of direct requests to foreign service providers for electronic evidence, using the Practical Guide from the UNODC Sherlock platform to ensure best practices. Smaller tech companies and micro-platforms were advised to utilize the publicly-available Data Disclosure Framework to understand data processing concepts for criminal justice purposes.
Conclusion
The webinar was part of activities funded by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea. For detailed records and summaries, please visit UNODC’s website: [insert-website-link].
For additional resources on anti-corruption and financial crime prevention in Southeast Asia, check out the links below:
- Written summary and full recording of the UNODC Webinar on Lessons Learnt from the Response to Covid-19: [insert-website-link]
- UNODC Webinar on Law Enforcement Integrity (available in Bahasa, English, Thai, and Vietnamese): [insert-website-link]
- UNODC Anti-Corruption Webinars in Southeast Asia (footage where available): [insert-social-media-link]
- Summary of activities by the UNODC Anti-Corruption Team in Southeast Asia: [insert-website-link]