Financial fraud

Financial crimes affect private individuals, companies, organizations and even states, and have a negative impact on the entire economic and social system through the considerable loss of money incurred.

Different types of fraud include confidence tricks (such as 419 letters and lottery fraud), insurance fraud, tax avoidance, offshore investment scams, marriage fraud, pyramid schemes and payment card fraud.

There are many different ways that these crimes can be committed, for instance by mail, fax, telephone and the Internet. By using social engineering techniques or sophisticated technical methods such as “phishing”, fraudsters are able to plunder bank accounts across the world.

INTERPOL's activities

The Financial Crime unit at INTERPOL is fighting this global scourge through several projects which aim to gather information, build up networks between law enforcement bodies and seek possible co-operation with the commercial sector, such as in a current private sector initiative against lottery scams.

The projects are designed around the concept of a co-ordination role for INTERPOL, to provide assistance to international investigations as well as strategic support to the law enforcement community, in order to combat significant fraud phenomena.