Fraud in times of Corona
We get used to everything eventually. And knowing that the underworld is always one step ahead of law enforcement, this means that Corona also opens up new horizons in the criminal environment. The newspapers are full of reports on fraudulent purchases of face masks and other medical supplies. Banks have to repel more cyberattacks than ever before. At the end of March, the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) even issued a warning to Belgian hospitals, because they risk becoming victims of so-called ransomware during these Corona times more than ever before. This warning came after a Czech hospital that is important for processing Covid tests was hacked via phishing emails and asked for a ransom to be operational again.
Criminal investigation against international fraud: the practice
The fraud committed in the shadow of the Corona virus knows no national borders, just like the virus itself. Nationally, the government goes no further than warning companies to pay attention, and when things still go wrong, “to draw up a police report”. This observation is not new in itself, but it is even more poignant today than before. As soon as fraud takes on an international character (and it really doesn’t have to be complicated), a feeling of powerlessness often arises within the justice system. Only a few months ago, an investigating judge informally informed Everest (anti)fraud that no further investigation would be carried out into an Estonian bank account, because he would not receive any cooperation anyway. Estonia is nevertheless a European Member State. In another case where circumstantial investment fraud was committed with identifiable traces to other European Member States, Everest (anti)fraud was advised in veiled terms not to file a criminal complaint.
This brings us to the paradoxical conclusion that the often most serious forms of international fraud by deception remain de facto unpunished. Of course, this only increases its appeal to criminals, causing the phenomenon to increase at a dizzying pace.
Call for more international cooperation
Can nothing be done about this? Of course it can, but only if work is done on it at an international level. Let us, under the motto “never waste a good crisis”, use the Corona crisis to better arm ourselves globally, or at least at a European level, against this kind of additional misery. Is such a call naive? Perhaps, but so was the call 15 years ago to abolish Swiss and Luxembourg banking secrecy in the fight against international tax fraud. The efforts to achieve greater transparency in the tax area were made at the time following the attacks on the Twin Towers. Shortly thereafter, the G20 took the initiative – in the fight against terrorist financing – to globally oblige countries to be tax transparent. Those who did not respond directly to this were put on a blacklist. Name and shame.
The fact that the fight against fraud only stands a chance if there is international cooperation applies not only to the tax area, but also to the fight against fraud by deception and hacking. It is therefore time to work at the international level on better multilateral cooperation treaties, with mandatory and short response times tailored to contemporary crime. With sanctioning mechanisms for governments that do not cooperate, and if possible with the creation of an umbrella body that oversees concrete application.
Crime with international branches can only be successfully tackled through international cooperation.
Examples in the private sector
In the private sector, this is beginning to be understood. For example, the World Tennis Association (WTA) has set up an independently operating department (the Tennis Integrity Unit or TIU). In the TIU, 25 to 30 former police officers are permanently active in the fight against match-fixing and other fraud phenomena in the tennis world. On this basis, a global (private) investigation is conducted, and effective sanctions are reached within the WTA.
Such an approach must also inspire the public sector. Only through international cooperation can we counter socially disruptive phenomena such as hacking and fraud by deception. And hopefully, during the next pandemic or other global crisis, we will no longer have to get annoyed at international fraudsters who try to take their distasteful piece of the pie. Never waste a good crisis.
Everest (anti)fraud remains committed to helping victims of fraud, even when the fight is difficult. Any questions? Contact us without obligation.
