Interpol announced on Tuesday the launch of its Center against Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption (IFCACC) as a global response to the exponential growth of this type of crime at the transnational level.
His work will focus on the fight against money laundering and the use of virtual assets to follow the financial trail of organized crime, he said in a statement.
The International Criminal Police Organization attributed the growth in crime to globalization and digitization.
“Criminals are capable of crime with increasing efficiency and sophistication, undermining global financial systems, impeding economic growth and causing huge losses to businesses and people around the world,” he added.
A survey conducted in 2020 by the consultancy PwC to companies in 99 countries showed that almost half of those surveyed had been victims of financial crimes in the previous two years, whose losses reached 42,000 million dollars (about 38,300 million euros).
In some countries it is the most frequent form of crime. According to an Interpol study, its member countries reported that financial crime and corruption were among the top three threats they currently face.
The organization assured that corruption is inevitably linked to these financial crimes and that similar mechanisms are used to move and launder illegal funds, in which more and more transnational organized groups participate.
“The pandemic has demonstrated the speed at which criminal groups can change their methods to take advantage of new opportunities to defraud individuals and businesses and steal millions of dollars every day,” said Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
The IFCACC will work closely with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), FATF-type regional bodies (FSRBs), the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, law enforcement agencies, law enforcement organizations and the financial sector. .
The center will coordinate operations to combat cyber financial crime (HAECHI).
The last two involved law enforcement agencies from 20 member countries, resulting in thousands of arrests and the interception of more than 100 million dollars (about 91.3 million euros) in illicit funds.
The second trial tested a global stop payment mechanism, known as the Anti-Money Laundering Rapid Response Protocol (ARRP).
This allows more member countries to submit and process requests to trace, intercept or provisionally freeze proceeds of crime.
The center will also coordinate operations against telecommunications fraud and other types of social engineering and corruption scams in sports, as well as environmental and human trafficking-related crimes. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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