When most people think of wildlife crime, they might see it as being a relatively isolated affair. It’s easy to imagine individual poachers – or small groups at most – killing individual animals to make a profit; a distressing image, but ultimately a crime whose only victims are animals. In reality, though, wildlife crime is now estimated to be the fourth largest illicit transnational activity in the world.1 It’s facilitated by huge transnational crime syndicates – often the same gangs behind human, drugs or weapons trafficking. Just like these crimes, it generates huge profits which are then ..read more

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), though undoubtedly useful, has sometimes been considered a secondary method of investigation by law enforcement teams. However, the proliferation of criminal activity on the internet has increased the significance of OSINT as a technique.  This is particularly true in the investigation of trafficking or border crimes: customs teams might previously have relied on human or privileged intelligence to identify perpetrators. Yet today, intelligence available on the internet may provide a path to faster identification of criminals, as well as the possibility o ..read more

In the financial year ending 2023, £6.4 billion was lost to fraudulent welfare claims in the UK.1 This hurts everyone: income from taxes which should have been used to invest in better services and infrastructure instead goes to the minority of individuals engaged in criminal activity. At the same time, government departments and politicians are put under increased pressure from the public to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not being lost to criminals.  In the UK, legislation to give the Department for Work and Pensions new powers of investigation is currently in Parliament – but action i ..read more

In the financial year ending 2023, £6.4 billion was lost to fraudulent welfare claims in the UK.1 This hurts everyone: income from taxes which should have been used to invest in better services and infrastructure instead goes to the minority of individuals engaged in criminal activity. At the same time, government departments and politicians are put under increased pressure from the public to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not being lost to criminals.  In the UK, legislation to give the Department for Work and Pensions new powers of investigation is currently in Parliament – but action i ..read more

2023 in review 2023 was a busy year for regulators, financial institutions and criminals alike. Significant enforcement actions and fines were levied globally, with notable cases including Crown Resorts fined AU$450m, William Hill fined £19.2m, Deutsche Bank fined US$186 million, and Binance hit with a record-breaking US$4.3bn penalty. We also saw major new legislative developments – the US progressing the full implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act, the UK passing the Economic Crime Act and announcing a pioneering mandatory reimbursement scheme for authorised push payment (APP) frau ..read more

Last week, the EU Council and Parliament made a provisional agreement on its new anti-money laundering package, which aims to improve the way that national systems work together to fight financial crime.   The European Council states that the agreement is focused on harmonising rules throughout the EU, closing loopholes that previously allowed criminals to launder money. This is a step forward in terms of preventing crime – but what are the implications for financial institutions and other regulated entities?   In this article, we’ll look at why OSINT will become key to the ..read more

Who Should Read the OSINT Handbook? Whether you’re a seasoned OSINT investigator or just starting out, the OSINT Handbook is a crucial resource for anyone wanting to get the most out of OSINT. It contains actionable insights on how to ensure you’re implementing best practices and making effective use of this valuable technique. Although different sectors use OSINT to solve different problems, best practices apply to all investigators regardless of industry. That’s why we’ve written this Handbook with OSINT investigators from all industries in mind. So, if you’re an OSINT investigator working i ..read more

Since its inception, the world wide web has undergone significant changes, and is now home to over 1,200 petabytes of data.1 Much of the data stored on the internet — including the deep and dark web — is open source data (OSD). This means that it is publicly accessible or intended for public consumption, making it useful for open source intelligence (OSINT) investigations.  OSD is an inherently vast and potent resource for intelligence-gathering operations and investigations. With the help of OSD, investigators can form an overarching understanding of subjects, networks and organisations ..read more

Open source intelligence (OSINT) is an increasingly important part of investigation best practices in contexts ranging from AML case management to fraud and military intelligence. A big part of building an effective OSINT strategy is finding the right tools. The volume and complexity of open source data (OSD) makes manual data handling an ineffective way to perform OSINT. It is therefore crucial to use dedicated digital tools that can automate the data assessment component of your procedure and put you in the best position to conduct investigations.  Here, we will provide you with an intr ..read more

Last week we attended Offshore Alert London, a leading event for investigators and intelligence-gatherers in the UK. For the 300 attendees, the event offered an opportunity to learn about all things financial crime prevention, asset recovery and investigations. If you couldn’t make it, here are some of our key takeaways from this year’s event.  Culture is the key to ensuring that anti-financial crime measures are enforced  Whether in financial institutions or government departments, the need for a positive culture that drives effective anti-financial crime processes was emphasised th ..read more