Introduction to Economic Crime

• Speaker: Economic crime consultant advising banks/companies for over a decade
• Movie analogy: James Bond villains financing operations through cash suitcases or digital transfers
• Reality: Both scenarios exist daily in real life
• No superhero exists - collective action needed

Scope of Economic Crime

• Wide field includes:
  • Drug trafficking proceeds
  • Human trafficking
  • Sexual exploitation
  • Fraud and cyber crimes
  • Tax evasion
  • Offshore tax havens
  • Piracy
  • Corruption
  • Terrorism
• Common element: All require money laundering to hide crime-profit connection

Money Laundering Scale

• UN estimates: Up to $2 trillion laundered annually
• Visual comparison: 57% of distance to moon in stacked $1 bills
• Exceeds combined annual revenues of Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla, JP Morgan

Sports Club Money Laundering

• Scenario: Criminal with cash suitcases owns sports club
• Method: Record fake ticket sales, invent reasons (e.g., "good weather")
• Europol has investigated sports fraud, but problem persists
• Consumer actions:
  • Pay with debit/credit cards (not cash)
  • Request official receipts for all purchases
  • Receipt purpose: Ensure official recording, don't need to keep
• Same applies to restaurants and cash-intensive businesses

Luxury Products & Counterfeits

• Counterfeit profit margins: Up to 2,000%
• Criminal/terrorist beneficiaries possible
• 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack case study:
  • Paris headquarters attacked
  • 12 dead, 11 injured
  • Partially financed through fake product sales
• Banks required to monitor client transactions for irregularities
• Consumer protective actions:
  • Buy from legitimate websites (https, secure payment methods)
  • Use credit cards with additional security questions
  • Shop at official retail stores offline
  • Avoid deals "too good to be true"
  • Verify instant return policy exists
• Extends to fast fashion and counterfeit medicine

Corporate Money Laundering - Dual Use Goods

• Household appliances contain microchips for weapon manufacturing/repair
• Kazakhstan case study:
  • Electric breast pump imports: +600% (second half 2022)
  • Birth rate: -5% (same period)
  • Indicates potential misuse of microchips
• Dual use goods examples:
  • Medical probes
  • Batteries
  • Lasers
  • Nuclear materials
  • Avionics
  • Navigation equipment
• Company protective actions:
  • Understand complete supply chain
  • Know suppliers' suppliers and customers' customers
  • Implement data-driven monitoring on key business metrics
  • Analyze unusual regional sales spikes

Call to Action

• Companies taking insufficient action for over a decade
• Individual responsibility as employees, managers, customers
• Stop saying "I don't care" or "what difference do I make"
• Demand transparency and scratch beneath surface
• Collective action needed to become "superhero"
• Goal: Empty criminal suitcases, zero criminal bank accounts
• Choice: What kind of world do we want to live in?