Financial and high-tech crimes

http://www.interpol.int - Financial and high-tech crimes – currency counterfeiting, money laundering, intellectual property crime, payment card fraud, computer virus attacks and cyber-terrorism, for example – can affect all levels of society.

Currency counterfeiting and money laundering have the potential to destabilise national economies and threaten global security, as these activities are sometimes used by terrorists and other dangerous criminals to finance their activities or conceal their profits.

Intellectual property crime is a serious financial concern for car manufacturers, luxury goods makers, media firms and drug companies. Most alarmingly, counterfeiting endangers public health, especially in developing countries, where the World Health Organization estimates more than 60 per cent of pharmaceuticals are fake.

‘Spam’ is becoming more than just a nuisance for Internet users, as criminals are using it in increasingly sophisticated ways to defraud consumers, cripple computer systems and release viruses. In 2000, the so-called ‘Love Bug’ virus, which affected millions of computers around the world within hours, exposed the vulnerability of corporate and government networks to such attacks.

New technologies open up many possibilities for criminals to carry out traditional financial crimes in new ways. One notable example is ‘phishing’, whereby a criminal attempts to acquire through e-mail or instant messaging sensitive information such as passwords or credit card details by pretending to be a legitimate business representative. With this information, the criminal can commit fraud and even money laundering.

INTERPOL has stepped up its efforts in this area, working with stakeholders such as pharmaceutical makers, Internet service providers, software companies, central banks and other relevant bodies to devise solutions to thwart criminals and protect consumers.

INTERPOL’s chief initiatives in the area of financial and high-tech crime focus on:

Payment cards

Money laundering

Intellectual property crime

Currency counterfeiting

New technologies

Financial fraud

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