The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently issued a paper on Organised Fraud. The paper looks closely at how fraud has changed and adapted with technological changes, how organised crime uses it and the damage it does to people, economies and prosperity worldwide.

The paper created a broad definition of fraud to cover the variety of laws in different countries. It describes it as “fraud that deliberately uses deception by any method or medium with the intent to make a wrongful financial or other material gain and which causes detriment to another”.

It describes an “organized criminal group” as defined in article 2 (a) of the Organized Crime Convention as

The report noted that modern technology has industrialised fraud methodologies that have long been in existence and also automating many laborious processes. In addition the availability of encryption tools played an important role in enabling cybercrimes, anonymizing the fraudsters, all using legally available technology.

In order to combat organised crime, the report recommended a multi -pronged approach:

• Legislation – adoption of clear and robust legal framework (it varies country to country)
• Law enforcement should adopt the following strategies:
 Assessing and Targeting organised Fraud
 Criminal investigation – report notes that in many regions the police are not equipped to address the growth in cyber fraud.
 Disruption – a more proactive approach by law enforcement to disrupt organised crime
 International Co-operation
 Diverse Workforce (in law enforcement) – to improve the poor experience of women and persons from diverse backgrounds in co-operating with the police.
 Intelligence Led Policing – improve the data collection, sharing and analysis to identify patterns, connect separate offences and locate/identify potential suspects.

Prevention

The report noted that: “effective crime prevention is contingent not only on developing more secure systems, but also on equipping the public and business community with the knowledge, awareness and capabilities to defend against fraud. Fraud is highly diverse and continuously evolving, and the effectiveness of education and awareness-raising campaigns lies in public messaging that is succinct and clear enough to influence public behaviours and vigilance”

In addition it recommends the following:

• Better Collection of Data
• Centralized Fraud Reporting
• Integrating Data Sets – the sharing of information between countries is essential to prevent, identify and investigate suspects.
• Public-Private Sector Partnerships – better co-operation between law enforcement and private sector such as the financial institutions and technology companies to help prevent and investigate fraud.

The full report can be found here:

UN Report on Organised Fraud

What is its Source?

90% of the world’s data was generated in the last 2 years and that data growth is expected to increase by 150% in 2025.[1] The increase in digitalised information has led to a rise in publicly accessible information. This in turn has led to a dilemma – how to verify that the information being generated/uncovered is real/truthful.

The accessibility of the technology has meant that anybody who can use a smart phone can put data out into the public realm through a plethora of social media sites, blog sites, YouTube and social chat. Information generated in this way also gets picked up by other websites, including the many online sites providing corporate details, health information, news reports, celebrity stories and political information to name but a few.  This impacts everyone, whether they are an individual searching online, or those responsible for maintaining databases providing public information, or those working in the information/intelligence gathering sector.

Data analysis in the Investigations/Intelligence Industry

There can be no discussion about data analysis without discussing the role of AI technology. There are many current debates about whether the upsurge in data and the increasing developments in AI technology will make data analysts obsolete. And whilst AI algorithms can search through large datasets much more quickly than a human brain – for instance, AI is more efficient/faster at extracting patterns in data, at image recognition and processing unstructured data etc – the results of AI searches will still need human analysts to help provide context and help verify the source of the information.   The increasing importance of data and information means that there is an increasing need for analysts to make sense of data. Analysts’ roles will still be pivotal in data-driven companies.

These sources on the ground can also give an informed opinion regarding the quality/veracity of smaller online publications as well as the various main stream press (including political bias etc).  They can also analyse and question any the information obtained by undertaking human intelligence enquiries, talking to people who have knowledge of the subject(s) being investigated and asking questions.

[1] https://www.luzmo.com/blog/ai-data-analysis

Investigating/tracing stolen art work and luxury items is complex. It requires knowledge of the particular market i.e., fine art, luxury goods, antiquities etc.  Knowing the market can guide you in understanding how items are moved around as well as the potential places/countries where they might be held. Knowledge of the market also allows a greater understanding as to how the works are sold on, including type of currency used and payment method (including cryptocurrency).

Fine art market

Focussing on the fine art market (paintings and sculpture) as an example, if an artwork is stolen, there is little intrinsic value, unless it is attributed to an artist and has good provenance. Before any investigation begins, it is important to check that the artwork in question has official, legitimate, provenance. This document is used to verify that the art in question is not a forgery and that the person who is claiming that the art work has been stolen, is the legitimate owner of the art.

There are some rudimentary searches that can be initially made when an art work has been stolen and these include:

• Using a photograph of the art work to search online for any corresponding images of the work.
• Online searches using as many details as available type of art (painting, sculpture), medium, classification (surrealist, modernist, postmodern, cubist etc) as well as the title, artist’s name, or country of provenance.

One of the largest databases of ‘lost art’ is the Art Loss Register. This register includes more than 700,000 items reported as missing. The database offers a due diligence service to clients in the art market who wish to ensure that they are working with items to which no claim will arise. The register can be used to check the provenance of items before people buy or handle art. Police, insurers, the trade and the public may record items that have been stolen and to record disputes or items within collections.[1]

Interpol also hold a database of stolen art. On its website it states that it combines descriptions and pictures of more than 52,000 items.[2] The database is open to any authorized user, to check in real-time if an item is among the registered objects. It can therefore be used to check if any art being offered for sale is listed as stolen.

There are also several experts that can be called upon to provide information concerning the work:

• There are experts in provenance research who can help prove chain of ownership and legitimacy.
• The insurance company used to insure the art work (any, legitimate valuable work will be insured). The insurance company will know where the art is listed as currently being held as well as noting that the art has been stored correctly in a temperature-controlled environment – again this is to ensure that the art work in question is legitimately owned and registered.
• Law enforcement. They will know the names of any suspect dealers who have been convicted in the past of art theft or of moving stolen art work.
• Shipping companies. If a work is being shipped anywhere it will require documentation which can put you on the trail of its movements.
• Art market dealers. Dealers can be an invaluable source as they have knowledge as to which art work has become available for sale through various trade online sources.

Finally, it is also important to remember that not all valuable art works are by artists who have long since died. Many contemporary artists are making works that sell for tens of millions. These artists and their agents, dealers and galleries will be able to comment on the legitimacy of a work (including early, possibly less known works) as well as giving possible clues to who would be interested in the work, where it sells and how the work is usually acquired and paid for.

[1] https://www.artloss.com/

[2] https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Cultural-heritage-crime/Stolen-Works-of-Art-Database