The Issue Paper on Organized Fraud covers fraud perpetrated by organized criminal groups, thus focusing on organized fraud that targets individual members of the public or private institutions for the purposes of obtaining a financial or other material benefit. The issue paper sets out the principles for understanding organized fraud, examining the definition of fraud and key aspects of the Organized Crime Convention. It provides an overview and description of key categories of fraud such as: consumer products and services fraud; employment fraud; consumer investment fraud; fraud by impersonation of a trusted individual or organization; identity fraud; relationship and trust fraud; fraud against businesses and organizations. These categories, whether executed through technology or more traditional means, tend to exploit human vulnerabilities and rely on deception to cause financial and personal harm. Fraud encompasses offenders ranging from opportunistic individuals who make moderate financial gains to highly motivated and organized criminals who go to great lengths to orchestrate fraud to make staggering levels of criminal profit. The role of organized crime can vary depending on the type of fraud, although, to a greater or lesser extent, it has a footprint in nearly all types of fraud. Furthermore, the issue paper contains a discussion on organized fraud offenders, describes cross-cutting facilitators of fraud, including some of the key technologies and behaviours that enable organized fraud, and puts forward comprehensive national and international responses to close off the abundant criminal opportunities for perpetrating these crimes.
Authors
- Pages
- 82
- Published in
- Austria
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements 4
- Contents 5
- Introduction 7
- Scope of the issue paper 8
- Methodology 9
- Structure of the issue paper 11
- Principles for understanding organized fraud 13
- Defining fraud 13
- Organized criminal groups in the context of fraud 15
- Serious crime in the context of fraud 21
- Intersectionality 24
- Categories of organized fraud 27
- Consumer products and services fraud 28
- Employment fraud 31
- Consumer investment fraud 32
- Fraud by impersonation of a trusted individual or organization 34
- Identity fraud 36
- Relationship and trust fraud 40
- Fraud against businesses or organizations 42
- Organized fraud offenders 47
- Role and significance of co-offending 47
- Characteristics of organized fraud offenders 49
- Motivations of fraudsters 51
- Cross-cutting facilitators of organized fraud 55
- Mass-marketing 55
- Identity theft 56
- Money-laundering 58
- Enabling technology 61
- Tackling organized fraud 65
- Prevention of organized fraud 67
- Pursuit of organized criminal groups 68
- Protection of persons affected by organized crime 73
- Promotion of partnerships and cooperation 74
- Conclusion 79
