About the guide and rules The Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Guideline on Sensitive Investigations provide guidance on the matter of sensitive investigations. The most recent version of the guideline was published in August 2023 and was issued by the Assistant Commissioner Counter Terrorism & Special Investigations. What is a sensitive investigation? Section five of…
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To better combat fraudulent investment scams and better protect Australians, the Australian Security and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) takedown actions now include social media ads that direct Australians to counterfeit investment sites, as reported in a media release published in August 2025. As explained by ASIC Deputy Director Sarah Court: “Expanding our investment scam takedown capability…
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What is a pre-emptive request and what is it for? A pre-emptive request is a formal application issued to Interpol that seeks to block or prevent a red notice from being issued against an individual. Red notices are capable of disrupting a person’s life emotionally, professionally, and financially, and are sometimes used in an antagonistic…
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The leaders of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a call to better combat organised crime and terrorism by improving global asset recovery efforts and increasing international cooperation efforts. Combatting illicit finance In a press release issued by Interpol,…
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“Good accountability and governance are key to maintaining your professional responsibilities, as well as protect clients’ privacy and data security.” – 2025 Solicitor’s Guide to Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence To address and identify both the concerns and benefits of generative AI tools and large language models (LLM), the Law Society of New South…
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What is a politically exposed person? As defined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a politically exposed person (PEP) is a “an individual who is or has been entrusted with a prominent function”. Many PEPs hold positions that can be abused for the purpose of laundering illicit funds or other predicate offences such as…
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What is a tipping off offence? The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) defines tipping off as the act of disclosing certain types of information to a person or persons where it could potentially prejudice an investigation. What has changed? The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) (Amended Act) –…
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Every fortnight, the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) publishes its CyberDigest, a newsletter that provides a global outlook on matters related to the “aims, activities and achievements” of C-PROC. The newsletter is a collection of internally and externally published press releases and news articles, covering a wide swath of topics and…
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Citing an increasing number of concerns around non-compliant crypto ATMs being used in Australia to engage in money laundering, financial scams, and terrorism financing, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) in December 2024 formed a specialised internal taskforce to crack down and eliminate non-compliant crypto services and their operators/owners. What are crypto…
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What is the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme? The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) is a statute-based scheme whose purpose is to provide the Australian government and public with “visibility of the nature, level and extent of foreign influence on Australia’s government and politics”. How does it work? Under the scheme, all foreign entities, organisations,…
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