COVID-19 Fraud Schemes
When a crisis arises, the volume and speed of activity increases causing many people to act with less care and caution. This rapid action mode opens a window of opportunity for scammers and fraudsters. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that window has opened again. Below are some of the schemes that your business or your customers may experience. The format is designed to be used as quick internal training reminders or to send out as a customer alert from your expert staff or relevant committee members.
Tax Preparation Fraud
As each year ends and a new year begins, everyone needs to start thinking about their impending tax obligations. Whether you are filing single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, or head of household each individual’s goal is often to pay as little taxes as possible while still meeting their fair share of their required tax burden.
Elder Financial Exploitation
Elder financial exploitation is unfortunately an ongoing and common issue in the financial industry today [1]. Elder financial exploitation is the act of an individual, or group of individuals, taking advantage of an elderly person and defrauding them of their assets.
FinTechs and Regulatory Compliance
The entrance of financial technology companies (FinTechs) into the economy and their impact on customer-facing and back-end processes is well documented. Many of these entities have brought new ways to reduce the drag in existing systems and processes and to increase the speed and through-put of data and transactions.
Cuban and Venezuelan Sanctions with Marilu Jimenez and Andy Fernandez
Marilu Jimenez of FINCAdvisors sits down with Andy Fernandez, partner at Holland & Knight and a leading expert in sanctions compliance. They discuss the sanctions regime and its increasingly complex nature, as well as the recent guidance OFAC issued in the summer on culture.
AML Conversations: Iranian Sanctions – Tim White
In this edition of AML Conversations, we’re looking at the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. The US Government has used economic sanctions for over 200 years to exert pressure on foreign countries and others to implement its foreign policies. In recent times, the US has used sanctions against numerous foreign governments, including Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
AML Conversations: James W. Foley Foundation
In this edition of AML Conversations, John Byrne sits down with Thomas Durkin, the Education Program Director of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Tom takes you through an emotional discussion of the impact his friend and photojournalist, Jim Foley, has had on hostage advocacy and the security needs of journalists everywhere. In 2014, Jim was captured and later murdered by ISIS. Jim’s death prompted the creation of the Foundation whose vision is that all American hostages will return home and conflict journalists who bring truth to light, like Jim, will be protected.
A Crisis that is Anything but Synthetic
The Problems Caused by Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids, and What the AML Community Can Do to Help In the early nineteenth century, opium addiction was such a problem in China that the government threatened the death penalty for anyone caught smuggling the drug. The British Empire – which produced vast quantities of opium in their colony India and were hooked on the revenue from Chinese consumers – declared war on China1. After nearly three years of fighting, China ceded Hong Kong to the Brits, the repercussions of which are still being felt today.
Confidential means CONFIDENTIAL!
This post is part of our occasional series on AML program fundamentals which focuses on refreshing foundational knowledge for experienced members of the AML community and providing an introduction to key topics for those new to the subject.
