Cyber-Enabled Fraud

Cyber-enabled fraud (CEF) is growing, especially with increasing digitalization across the globe. Technological advances have enabled cyber criminals to develop and increase the scale, scope, and speed of their illicit activities, according to a recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report, written in partnership with the Egmont Group of financial intelligence units (FIUs) and INTERPOL.

The report analyzes how the CEF landscape has evolved, its links to other crimes, such as money laundering and human trafficking, and how criminals may exploit vulnerabilities in new technologies. FATF calls on jurisdictions to respond to this threat more effectively by using initiatives to increase victim and suspicious transaction reporting, more effectively analyze information inflows from reports, and recognize that strong domestic and cross-jurisdictional coordination is needed to combat CEF. The report also includes a list of red flags and anti-fraud suggestions to help both private and public sectors detect and prevent CEF and the money laundering that invariably accompanies these crimes.

• Several banks have told the media that they have seen a significant increase in impersonation, investment, and marketplace fraud in 2022, and that much of the activity originates online—social media platforms, online marketplaces, and dating sites and applications.
• The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports that in 2022, Americans reported $10.3 billion in losses—up from nearly $7 billion during the previous year.
• IC3 reports that phishing was the top CEF crime in 2022, with personal data breaches, non-payment or non-delivery of purchased goods, extortion, tech support scams, and breaches of personal data listed as the top five crimes.
• According to the INTERPOL Global Crime Trend Report 2022, online scams are one of the cybercrime trends most frequently perceived as posing “high” or “very high” threats globally.