Why OSINT should be a hot topic at the Economic Crime Congress

In December, we’ll be joining hundreds of delegates from financial institutions and government agencies at the UK Finance-run Economic Crime Congress. We believe that Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) should be at the forefront of the agenda – here’s why. 

1. Economic Crime underpins almost every serious crime

As a term, Economic Crime covers a range of types of crime – from money laundering, to sanctions violation, to fraud. Yet a common thread runs through all of these: they are often associated with serious or organised crime networks. In each case, an economic crime investigation is part of a much bigger picture: 

Money laundering

By definition, a predicate offence (such as drug trafficking, human trafficking or environmental crime) must have taken place for money laundering to be suspected. Investigating money laundering therefore doesn’t only mean stopping an economic crime. It can lead to the identification of criminal networks and stop their flow of funds, rendering the predicate offence unprofitable. 

Sanctions violations  

If sanctioned entities are allowed to breach sanctions, their impact is reduced enormously. By these violations, investigators can ensure that sanctions are as effective as possible, helping to uphold international law and limit regimes’ ability to, for example, commit war crimes. 

Fraud 

Fraud can be committed by lone individuals simply to steal money, but large networks of fraudsters are now operating to run scams at scale. These criminals tend to target the most vulnerable members of society, such as the elderly, and cause both emotional and financial distress. Disrupting fraud networks can stop hundreds of thousands of incidents in which innocent people are exploited and lives ruined.  

In short, fighting economic crime isn’t just about money: it helps to stop crimes that impact the whole of society. Using OSINT can help investigators take this a step further. By using all available intelligence – both in open and closed sources – investigators can ensure that they gain the fullest possible picture of those involved in a crime. With more, higher-quality intelligence, more economic crime can be disrupted and in doing so societal harm reduced.  

2. Economic crime cannot be solved with internal data alone 

Internally held data may often spark an investigation, be that a suspicious transaction in a bank or a report of a seemingly isolated fraud in a law enforcement context.  

In some instances, an organisation might hold enough data to resolve a case without turning to OSINT. For example, a simple check of KYC data might reveal that a subject is involved in a type of business that explains a suspicious transaction. Similarly, checks in police criminal records databases may show that the fraudulent company’s owner has a criminal record.  

However, detail available in internal or privileged data may be limited or misleading. In these cases, it is crucial that economic crime investigators seek out additional information in open source data. For example, an investigator might use a publicly available social media page or local media reporting to find that a subject is in fact not engaged in the business type stated in its KYC data. Publicly available corporate records may reveal that a company under investigation is part of a whole network of businesses committing fraud. 

In both cases, effective use of OSINT can provide important context that changes the outcome of an investigation. Missing this data can mean that criminals who could have been caught are allowed to continue harmful activity. When insights are missed that can be found online by the media or general public, there is also a risk of serious reputational damage and/or loss of public trust.  

3. Understanding networks is key 

Economic crime is rarely committed by one single individual, especially where it is linked to serious and organised crime. Understanding the – sometimes numerous – companies and people involved is essential. If crimes are treated as isolated and a whole network isn’t caught, the same criminals are likely to reoffend in different guises and investigators’ work will have limited impact.  

OSINT is well-suited to economic crime investigation because much of the data contained in open sources is network-based. By combining internal and privileged data with open source data such as corporate records, publicly available social media connections and blog/forum posts, investigators have the best possible chance of gaining maximum context and understanding of a network. 

Identifying the wider network behind these crimes has other benefits too: it may allow law enforcement to find additional proceeds of crime and recover more assets. 

OSINT at the Economic Crime Congress 

Discussion of fighting economic crime and OSINT should go hand in hand. Without OSINT, economic crime investigators run the risk of missing important detail. Yet effective OSINT is often hard to implement in an enterprise context. The disparate nature and high volumes of open source data available may mean that organisations struggle to balance efficiency with effectiveness or miss key insights.  

Videris is an OSINT investigations platform which helps economic crime investigators illuminate intelligence in open source data. Visit Blackdot Solutions’ stand at the Economic Crime Congress to find out how we can support your team to implement fast, effective and secure use of OSINT within your economic crime investigations.