In an increasingly globalised and digitised world, criminals have the means to conduct sophisticated financial crimes with relative ease.
To respond to the ever-evolving threat, INTERPOL has launched a Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) which will focus on complex money laundering schemes and transnational financial crime.
A multi-agency approach
The IFCACC will adopt a multi-agency approach, working closely with key stakeholders to strengthen collective efforts against financial crime and corruption. These include:
- The Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
- FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs).
- The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
- Law enforcement agencies.
- Police organisations.
- The financial sector.
“INTERPOL’s new crime centre will expand and streamline the world police body’s existing initiatives in tackling financial crimes, illicit money flows and asset recovery by centralizing the international response to transnational financial crime and corruption,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
Key focus areas
By providing investigative, operational and analytical support, as well as capacity building, the IFCACC will target fraud and payment crime, money laundering and asset recovery, and corruption. Specific focus areas include:
- Telecom fraud.
- Social engineering scams.
- Money laundering and corruption in sport.
- Money laundering associated with virtual assets.
- Other crime areas with a corruption or financial crime component, such as human trafficking and environmental crime.
The centre will also coordinate INTERPOL’s HAECHI operations, which target cyber-enabled financial crime. The previous two HAECHI operations brought together law enforcement in 20 countries, resulting in thousands of arrests and intercepting more than USD 100 million in illicit funds.
“Whether it’s corruption or financial crime, the criminal business model remains the same: bad actors, motivated by money and operating on a global level,” said Rory Corcoran, Acting Director of IFCACC.
“Now, with this dedicated centre, we will be able to help police follow that money better than ever before, intercepting illicit funds before they disappear and arresting perpetrators, whether they’re hiding behind a screen or a public office.”
