Auto Added by WPeMatico
Source: Interpol (news and events)
The Asian Regional Conference brings together Heads of Police and police cooperation bodies in the region to discuss specific crime-related problems, as well as assess the state of police cooperation and the fight against transnational crime.
Key issued to be considered during the Asian gathering include:
Source: Interpol (news and events)
LYON, France – To address the increasing logistical, operational and technological sophistication of transnational organized crime, INTERPOL’s Heads of NCB conference has ended with delegates approving a series of conclusions to boost the law enforcement response.
Expanding access to I-24/7, INTERPOL’s secure global police communications network, to specialized law enforcement units and border control points, and sharing more criminal data via the Organization’s 19 databases were highlighted as key.
Increased use of INTERPOL’s policing capabilities, such as the Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) stop-payment mechanism to intercept the proceeds of cyber-enabled financial fraud was also endorsed.
Since the launch of I-GRIP in 2022, the Organization has helped member countries intercept more than USD 500 million in criminal proceeds.
The need for more data exchanges on terrorist organizations, their support mechanisms, and any links to organized crime was underlined, as well as sharing modus operandi linked to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and improvised explosive materials and incidents.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
“It is simple – more data shared via INTERPOL equals more results for police across our 196 member countries.
“To address the complexity of today’s transnational organized crime threat, global law enforcement cooperation to ensure that the right information is in the right place at the right time is more important than ever.
“This meeting has provided new impetus for our National Central Bureaus which play a critical role in the global security architecture.”
To better protect vulnerable members of society, NCBs were also encouraged to make greater use of INTERPOL’s International Child Sex Exploitation (ICSE) database to share intelligence, identify offenders and safeguard victims, as well as Green Notices to warn about sexual predators.
INTERPOL is the only international organization with a global network of mandatorily appointed data protection officers. In support of data protection principles such as lawfulness, quality, transparency and accountability, fostering this network to further strengthen trust and efficiency in global policing was also endorsed by the Heads of NCBs conference.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
LYON, France – Strengthening INTERPOL’s global network to combat the threat of transnational organized crime is the focus of the annual Heads of National Central Bureaus (NCBs) meeting this week.
Building on the five priority actions outlined in the Vienna Declaration, 321 police officials from 136 countries attending the conference will identify initiatives to expand access to INTERPOL’s global databases to encourage greater operational criminal data sharing.
In addition to panel discussions during the plenary session, delegates will also take part in round tables for more focused regional discussions on threats including cyber-enabled financial fraud, online child sexual exploitation and terrorism.
INTERPOL President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi said:
“We are 196 members strong, and our power lies in our continued commitment to intelligence sharing and international partnership.
“Providing police with the tools they need to fight crime together is essential. As we look to the future, NCBs are more vital than ever, playing an essential role in the success of the organization’s most critical operations.”
Secretary General Jürgen Stock highlighted a number of operational highlights from the past 12 months, including Operation Storm Makers II, targeting human trafficking and migrant smuggling linked to cyber scam centres, and Operation Haechi IV against online financial crime which resulted in the seizure of USD 300 million worth of assets across 34 countries.
“Terrorism remains global, mobile, while organized crime continues to expand across continents and across markets,” said Secretary General Stock.
“That is why we must continue to prepare and respond to those criminal threats in a coordinated and targeted manner at the national, regional and global levels through our NCBs.
“Each piece of information, shared or withheld, can mean the difference between an arrest and a tragedy of global proportions.”
NCBs are a country’s focal point for all INTERPOL activities, connecting national law enforcement with other countries, and with the General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, via a secure global police communications network.
In 2023 alone, INTERPOL NCBs exchanged more than 18 million messages and queried the Organization’s global databases nearly eight billion times – equating to over 250 searches every second.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
LYON, France – Belgium has enacted a new law considerably boosting its ability to solve cases of missing or unidentified deceased persons.
Until now, officials in Belgium were restricted from sharing DNA profiles to international databases for criminal missing persons investigations, essentially limiting their ability to find answers abroad.
The new legislation explicitly allows for profiles collected in Belgium to be searched and stored in INTERPOL’s DNA and I-Familia databases for cases of missing persons, relatives of missing persons and unidentified human remains. It will also enable the use of more systematic searches, adding a new layer of cooperation and ensuring all possible avenues have been explored.
“This new law is an important achievement. It not only sends a clear message to other countries looking to evolve their policing practices and benefit from increased information exchange, but more significantly it will also help get answers for families,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
Dr. Pierre Van Renterghem, Director of the National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology (left) and INTERPOL Executive Committee Vice-President Peter De Buysscher (right)
Welcoming the legislation, Director of International Police Cooperation with the Belgian Federal Police and INTERPOL Executive Committee Vice-President Peter De Buysscher said, “Amendments can and should be made to national DNA legislation – it’s an inevitable part of innovation and globalization. This change to the law will bring a global aspect to national investigations.”
With the new database connections now in place via I-24/7, INTERPOL’s secure communications system, additional data is starting to flow between the National Central Bureau in Brussels and the General Secretariat.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
LYON, France – In January this year, Brazilian authorities announced the arrest of five administrators behind a Grandoreiro banking trojan operation.
Considered a major cybersecurity threat across Spanish-speaking countries since 2017, Grandoreiro malware is introduced through phishing emails impersonating recognized organizations such as courts or telecom and energy companies.
Once in, the malware tracks keyboard inputs, simulates mouse activity, shares screens, and displays deceptive pop-ups, collecting data such as usernames, operating system information, device runtime and most importantly, bank identifiers.
With full control over victims’ bank accounts, criminals empty them, sending funds through a money mule network to launder the illicit proceeds before transferring the funds to Brazil.
The organization behind the malware is thought to have defrauded victims of more than EUR 3.5 million, however, according to CaixaBank several failed attempts could have yielded more than EUR 110 million for the criminal organization.
Between 2020 and 2022, as part of independent national cybercrime investigations, Brazil and Spain collected Grandoreiro malware samples. When they both turned to INTERPOL for support in analysing the material, INTERPOL’s Cybercrime unit took on a coordinating role, launching an operation and calling on partners Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Group-IB and Scitum.
By August 2023, analytical reports had identified matches between samples, allowing investigators to close in on the organized crime group. Following a series of coordination meetings, Brazil carried out house searches across five states, arresting five programmers and operators behind the banking malware.
Emphasizing the importance of a collective approach, Craig Jones, Director of INTERPOL’s Cybercrime unit, said: “This operational success vividly underscores the importance of sharing intelligence through INTERPOL, and why we are committed to acting as a bridge between public and private sectors. It also sets the stage for further cooperation in the region.”
INTERPOL continues to support Brazil and Spain, as well as other countries, as investigations are ongoing.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
LONDON, United Kingdom – A new INTERPOL assessment on global financial fraud highlights how the increased use of technology is enabling organized crime groups to better target victims around the world.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), large language models and cryptocurrencies combined with phishing- and ransomware-as-a-service business models have resulted in more sophisticated and professional fraud campaigns without the need for advanced technical skills, and at relatively little cost.
Analysis behind the INTERPOL Global Financial Fraud Assessment also points to the global expansion of human trafficking for the purpose of forced criminality in call centres, particularly to carry out ‘pig-butchering’ scams – a hybrid scheme combining romance and investment frauds, using cryptocurrencies.
INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said:
“We are facing an epidemic in the growth of financial fraud, leading to individuals, often vulnerable people, and companies being defrauded on a massive and global scale.
“Changes in technology and the rapid increase in the scale and volume of organized crime has driven the creation of a range of new ways to defraud innocent people, business and even governments. With the development of AI and Cryptocurrencies, the situation is only going to get worse without urgent action.
“It is important that there are no safe havens for financial fraudsters to operate. We must close existing gaps and ensure information sharing between sectors and across borders is the norm, not the exception.
“We also need to encourage greater reporting of financial crime as well as invest in capacity building and training for law enforcement to develop a more effective and truly global response.”
The report is being launched by the Secretary General at the Financial Fraud Summit, organized by the UK government in London.
Other key findings of the report, which is for law enforcement use only, include:
To effectively address this globally escalating crime and bridge crucial information gaps, one of the report’s recommendations is the need to build multi-stakeholder, Public-Private Partnerships to trace and recover funds lost to financial fraud.
Since the launch of INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) stop-payment mechanism in 2022, the Organization has helped member countries intercept more than USD 500 million in criminal proceeds, stemming largely from cyber-enabled fraud.
Africa
Business Email Compromise remains one of the most prevalent trends in Africa, however there is increasing use of the pig butchering fraud. Cases of this fraud type have been identified in West and Southern Africa targeting victims in other jurisdictions beyond the continent.
Certain West African criminal groups, including the Black Axe, Airlords and Supreme Eiye, continue to grow transnationally, and are known to have extensive skills in online financial fraud such as romance fraud, investment fraud, advance fee fraud, and cryptocurrency fraud.
Americas
The most common types of fraud across the Americas are impersonation, romance, tech support, advance payment, and telecom frauds.
Human trafficking-fuelled fraud continues to be a growing crime phenomenon. The INTERPOL coordinated operation, Operation Turquesa V, revealed that hundreds of victims were trafficked out of the region after being lured via messaging apps and social media platforms and coerced to commit fraud, including investments frauds and pig butchering.
There is emerging evidence that Latin-American crime syndicates such as Commando Vermelho, Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) are also involved in the commission of financial fraud.
Asia
Pig butchering fraud schemes initiated in Asia in 2019, and expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, Asia has emerged as a focal point, with criminal organizations in poorer countries across the region employing business-like structures.
Another fraud type that has experienced a surge in recent years in Asia is a type of telecommunication fraud where perpetrators impersonate law enforcement officers or bank officials to trick victims to disclose their credit card or bank account credentials or to hand over huge amounts of money.
Europe
Online investment frauds, phishing, and other online financial fraud schemes have escalated on carefully selected targets to maximize profits. Mobile phone apps are also being targeted by cybercriminals.
The criminal networks involved in these online schemes often display sophisticated and complex modi operandi, which are usually a combination of different fraud types.
Pig butchering, predominantly carried out of call centres in Southeast Asia, is also on the rise.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
Singapore – INTERPOL and UNICRI have released an updated version of the Toolkit for Responsible AI Innovation in Law Enforcement, a practical guide for law enforcement agencies on developing and deploying artificial intelligence responsibly, while respecting human rights and ethics principles.
The AI Toolkit is comprised of seven distinct resources, underpinned by a comprehensive user guide, providing guidance for law enforcement executives and officers to navigate responsible AI innovation from technical foundations to organizational assessments on readiness and risk.
The updated toolkit, which is based on extensive consultation with stakeholders, incorporates several key changes aimed at enhancing its usability and relevance in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape. Some of the key changes include:
These updates were unveiled to law enforcement and global AI experts in Singapore, during the 4th INTERPOL-UNICRI Global Meeting on Responsible AI for Law Enforcement (20-22 February), which was organized in cooperation with the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, the European Union, the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.
A dedicated AI Toolkit session and specifically developed workshops were held during the event to enhance understanding of the AI Toolkit’s content and its practical applications in law enforcement work.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire – INTERPOL has deployed a special intelligence support team to a high-risk terrorism zone in West Africa to support Côte d’Ivoire in maintaining a safe environment for Africa’s Cup of Nations – CAN.
From 13 January to 11 February, the Africa Cup brings 24 national soccer teams to Côte d’Ivoire to compete in the cities of Abidjan, Bouaké, Korhogo, San Pedro and the capital Yamoussoukro.
To make the event as safe as possible for the three million fans travelling to Côte d’Ivoire, local police are working with INTERPOL to make sure frontline officers have the global INTERPOL tools they need to detect dangerous individuals at border checkpoints.
An INTERPOL expert team is working with Côte d’Ivoire’s national police to cross-reference passenger manifests for all incoming flights against INTERPOL’s criminal databases. The objective is to identify any suspected criminals in-flight and enable Ivorian authorities to apprehend individuals listed in INTERPOL’s databases upon their arrival.
Côte d’Ivoire is located near the Sahel region where extremist terrorist groups often clash. To prevent spill-over into Cote d’Ivoire during the CAN, police across the country have been equipped to also perform biometric checks against records of suspected terrorists.
General Youssouf Kouyate, Côte d’Ivoire’s Director of National Police, said:
“High profile sporting events attract significant global attention, making them great targets for terrorist groups seeking to spread fear. Ensuring the safety of fans, players and support staff involves complex security operations which must necessarily go beyond national borders.
“INTERPOL’s comprehensive support to Côte d’Ivoire for this event ensures that the joy of football is not overshadowed by security threats.”
Cyril Gout, INTERPOL’s Acting Executive Director of Police Services, said:
“Hosting the Africa Cup of Nations is a monumental task, but as a key part of a strong global police network of law enforcement in 196 countries, Côte d’Ivoire was not left alone to make it safe.
“Thanks to strong international police cooperation, Côte d’Ivoire police is an essential component of a larger law enforcement family, uniting global resources and expertise to ensure the safety of all – from the local communities of Côte d’Ivoire to the international guests.”
The Abidjan INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), which is part of Côte d’Ivoire’s national police force, is also playing a strategic role in making the CAN a safe place for fans.
As part of a long-term strategy to keep the country safe, the NCB ensured that sea, air, and land borders were connected to INTERPOL systems ahead of the Africa Cup so that police could spot and stop criminals trying to enter the country.
The NCB trained officers nationwide to use INTERPOL’s criminal databases and provided stadium security with mobile devices to identify potential criminals on-site. It also worked with WAPIS to facilitate comprehensive data cross-checks against national, regional, and global databases.
WAPIS is funded by the European Union and implemented by INTERPOL to boost regional security. It gives police forces real-time access to national and regional databases so that frontline officers can swiftly identify crime and criminals.
Its comprehensive information system helps maintain security by enabling swift and efficient identification and tracking of potential threats, enhancing collaboration among law enforcement agencies, and improving responses to security concerns that arise during the event.
Ahead of the CAN, INTERPOL delivered specialized training sessions for local law enforcement and security staff, focusing on INTERPOL databases and the importance of sharing intelligence with the global law enforcement community.
With the increasing reliance on digital infrastructure for such events, INTERPOL has also provided support in cybersecurity, ensuring the safety of communication and operational networks.
INTERPOL can assist a country in making high-profile events safer through various means, including intelligence sharing, database access, expert counsel, training, operational support, border management, and intelligence sharing with police forces in 196 countries across the globe.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
SINGAPORE – Some 1,300 suspicious IP addresses or URLs have been identified as part of a global INTERPOL operation targeting phishing, malware and ransomware attacks.
Operation Synergia, which ran from September to November 2023, was launched in response to the clear growth, escalation and professionalisation of transnational cybercrime and the need for coordinated action against new cyber threats.
The operation involved 60 law enforcement agencies from more than 50 INTERPOL member countries, with officers conducting house searches and seizing servers as well as electronic devices. To date, 70% of the command-and-control (C2) servers identified have been taken down, with the remainder currently under investigation.
Authorities detained 31 individuals and identified an additional 70 suspects.
Operation Synergia demonstrated how cybersecurity is most effective when international law enforcement, national authorities, and private sector partners cooperate to share best practices and pro-actively combat cybercrime. INTERPOL and its Gateway Partners Group-IB, Kaspersky, TrendMicro, Shadowserver and Ad hoc partner Team Cymru provided analysis and intelligence support throughout the operation.
Bernardo Pillot, Assistant Director to INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate, said:
“The results of this operation, achieved through the collective efforts of multiple countries and partners, show our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the digital space. By dismantling the infrastructure behind phishing, banking malware, and ransomware attacks, we are one step closer to protecting our digital ecosystems and a safer, more secure online experience for all.”
Participating countries:
Albania, Algeria, Australia , Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Eswatini, France, Georgia, Greece, Guyana, India, Ireland, Israel, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lichtenstein, Maldives, Mauritius, Moldova, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Palestine, Poland, Qatar, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Zimbabwe.
Source: Interpol (news and events)
DAVOS, Switzerland – A comprehensive analysis of the Metaverse’s key challenges, threats and harms from a law enforcement perspective is outlined in a new INTERPOL White Paper published today.
Contributing towards a secure-by-design Metaverse, the document identifies current and potential Metacrimes, such as grooming, radicalization and cyber-physical attacks against critical infrastructure, as well as theft of 3D virtual/cultural property, trespassing in private virtual spaces, and robbery from an avatar.
A lack of standardization and interoperability; virtual worlds spanning multiple jurisdictions; and the added complexity of the Metaverse being accessed across multiple devices and systems: all are among the challenges currently faced by investigators.
Police may be faced with virtual crime scenes where there is no physical evidence to be collected – just digital interactions involving virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Such online environments are dynamic, meaning evidence can easily vanish or appear altered.
Nevertheless, the INTERPOL paper also notes that the Metaverse holds opportunities for law enforcement, ranging from advanced simulation and virtual crime scene preservation, to immersive training.
The Paper also underlines the need for first responders, digital forensic specialists and the judicial system to understand the Metaverse and associated technology to ensure the safety and security of the virtual environment and protect individual rights.
“The rise of powerful technologies such as the Metaverse is making the criminal landscape increasingly complex and transnational, posing new challenges for law enforcement.”
“We are seeing the Metaverse and artificial intelligence provide new opportunities for criminal activities, for which the world is not fully prepared.
“INTERPOL remains committed to being the voice of global law enforcement community to ensure the safety and security of the virtual world.”
Spanning multiple jurisdictions, dimensions, and organizations, a holistic approach involving multi-stakeholder engagements and cross-border collaboration is essential for an effective law enforcement response to Metacrime.
INTERPOL’s ambition is to help its member countries understand both the challenges and opportunities offered by new and emerging technologies, as well as ensure law enforcement has the tools and training to mount an effective response to this evolving crime landscape.
Launched at the World Economic Forum’s Global Collaboration Village as part of the ‘Next-Generation Technologies and Global Security’ session, the Paper was developed with input from the INTERPOL Metaverse Expert Group made up of representatives from law enforcement, government, the private sector, academia and international organizations.
In October 2022, INTERPOL unveiled the first ever Metaverse specifically designed for law enforcement worldwide, offering immersive training courses to law enforcement across the globe.