2020 Publications

The measures put in place to tackle the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in significant and rapid changes in the operation of the civil justice system: new guidance authorising the use of remote hearings has been published, priorities for listing have been created and practice directions authorising the extension of time limits and suspending possession hearings have been issued. Successive announcements by the senior judiciary have emphasised their commitment to continuing the work of the courts ´wherever possible”. The rapid expansion of the use of remote hearings has been central to facilitating the continued operation of the justice systems - few if any civil hearings are now being conducted face-to-face. Guidance from the senior judiciary has emphasised flexibility in the approach adopted to remote hearings.

Open publication

This year’s IOCTA demonstrates that while we must look ahead to anticipate what challenges new technologies, legislation, and criminal innovation may bring, we must not forget to look behind us. ‘New’ threats continue to emerge from vulnerabilities in established processes and technologies. Cybercrime continues to mature and become more audacious, shifting its focus to larger and more profitable targets. To tackle it, law enforcement must be equally audacious in order to meet the challenge head-on.

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The research explored how victims fell victim and showed in some cases they were tricked by sophisticated social engineering, some exhibited poor security behaviours putting them at greater risk, but some also had very good behaviours but still fell victim. The research explored the changes in behaviour as a result of victimisation and it showed in general there were no major changes. The reasons victims did not report were examined and then the experiences of those that did. The response of the police and Action Fraud, where there was a response was also explored. The report ended by considering what the victims wanted.

Open publication

Serious and organised crime is exploiting the changing circumstances during the pandemic. From the onset of this crisis, Europol monitored these developments to help Member States understand and tackle these emerging phenomena. The full impact of the pandemic – not only on crime but also more widely on society and the economy – is not yet apparent. However, law enforcement should be prepared to be able to respond to the warning signals as the world deals with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, international policing needs to work with the increased connectivity both in the physical and virtual worlds. This crisis again proves that exchanging criminal information is essential to fighting crime within the law enforcement community. Europol, as the criminal information hub for all law enforcement organisations, will continue to play its part.

Open publication

The National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice at Bournemouth University has been leading national research in the area of financial fraud and scamming for a number of years now, working with key national organisations such as the National Trading Standards Scams team and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.

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This year's report is the 11th edition and is the most comprehensive global study to date. With data compiled from 2,504 real cases of occupational fraud investigated by CFEs in 125 countries throughout the world, the report continues to be a tremendous resource for those interested in how occupational fraud is committed, how it is detected, who commits it and how organizations can protect themselves from it.

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This advisory provides information on exploitation by cybercriminal and advanced persistent threat (APT) groups of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. It includes a non-exhaustive list of indicators of compromise (IOCs) for detection as well as mitigation advice. The NCSC and CISA are working with law enforcement and industry partners to disrupt or prevent these malicious COVID-19 themed cyber activities.

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The focus of this report was to better understand how local authorities tackled fraud. In summary, the report highlights senior officers of local authorities generally perceived fraud to be a problem in their organisations, but they were generally positive about their own ability to tackle it. However, it was apparent from the findings there was room for improvement in their approaches.

Open publication

Fraud and economic crime rates remain at record highs, impacting more companies in more diverse ways than ever before. With this in mind, businesses should be asking: Are we assessing threats well enough…or are gaps leaving us dangerously exposed? Are the fraud-fighting technologies we’ve deployed providing the value we expected? When an incident occurs, are we taking the right action? These are some of the provocative questions that lie at the heart of the findings in this year’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey. With fraud a greater – and more costly – threat than ever, it’s essential to assess your readiness, deploy effective fraud-fighting measures, and act quickly once its uncovered.

This is the first edition of U.K. Business Crime Review— an annual publication focused on the outcomes, trends and developments over the past 12 months that are likely to be of interest to businesses operating in the United Kingdom. Whilst this publication primarily focuses on the introduction and use of criminal sanctions in the business crime space, we also consider key regulatory developments that are likely to be of interest to those managing financial crime risks within businesses. Readers may conclude that it has never been more important for businesses operating in the U.K. to devote adequate expertise and resources to implementing, monitoring and enforcing the mechanisms necessary to avoid falling foul of the ever-increasing legal and regulatory framework under which they now operate and, more importantly, their being used to facilitate serious economic crime.

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