3-Day Training Programme for Financial Crime Investigators

Description

Theme: Foundations of Financial Crime and the Investigative Landscape

Topics:

1. Overview of Financial Crime

   • Money laundering, fraud, corruption, insider trading, terrorist financing

2. Fraud Typologies

   • Account takeover fraud, synthetic identity fraud, internal fraud

   • Business Email Compromise (BEC), mule accounts, romance scams

3. Regulatory Environment

   • South Africa’s FIC Act (FICA), FATF recommendations, AML compliance

   • Bank obligations in fraud detection and SAR/STR reporting

4. Understanding Banking Channels and Red Flags

   • Wire transfers, SWIFT, mobile banking, remittance fraud indicators

5. Case Study Workshop

   • Dissecting a real-world banking fraud case using timelines, account tracing

Outcomes:

• Understand the various types of financial crime

• Recognise key fraud typologies and their indicators

• Be able to articulate legal and regulatory obligations

• Gain awareness of the role of financial institutions in detection/prevention

Day 2: OSINT and Digital Tracing for Financial Crime

Theme: Tools and Techniques to Track, Trace, and Attribute

Topics:

1. Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Fundamentals

   • What is OSINT? Relevance to financial investigations

   • OSINT vs traditional intelligence

2. Entity Attribution Techniques

   • Identifying people behind aliases, email addresses, phone numbers

   • Using social media for fraud pattern analysis

3. Crypto Asset Tracing

   • Wallet tracing

   • Identifying mixers and typologies of crypto-based laundering

4. Digital Document and Email Forensics (Basics)

   • How to extract metadata from PDFs, invoices, and emails

   • Spotting fraudulent documents

5. Hands-On OSINT Tools

   • We show you how to utilise OSINT tools

6. Workshop: OSINT + Financial Crime

   • Trace a money trail using social media, WHOIS, crypto wallets, and emails

Outcomes:

• • Learn how to use OSINT for tracing individuals and digital evidence

  • Develop skills in identifying fraud patterns using public data

  • Be capable of conducting basic crypto wallet investigations

  • Understand how OSINT supports SAR/STR compilation

Day 3: Financial Crime Investigations – End to End

Theme: Putting It All Together – Investigation Lifecycle & Reporting

Topics:

1. Conducting an End-to-End Financial Investigation

   • From suspicious activity alert to reporting and prosecution

   • Interviewing and gathering financial statements

2. Follow the Money – Flow of Funds Mapping

   • Analysing bank statements, tracing layered transactions

   • Use of tools

3. Cross-Border Investigations

   • Jurisdiction challenges, MLATs, typologies in Africa and offshore centres

   • Bank’s role in freezing funds, KYC and due diligence

4. Working with Law Enforcement and Prosecutors

   • Drafting quality reports and case files

   • Expert witness preparation and giving testimony

5. Final Simulation: Live Case Investigation

   • Students receive a full case with redacted bank data, email headers, fake IDs

   • Each group presents a forensic report with findings and recommendations

Outcomes:

• Be able to plan and execute a full financial crime investigation

• Demonstrate knowledge of tracing and documenting financial flows

• Understand the importance of admissible evidence and proper case handover

• Deliver an investigation report suitable for law enforcement or court proceedings

Final Goal of the 3-Day Course:

Equip investigators with actionable investigative skills that blend banking knowledge, regulatory frameworks, OSINT expertise, and forensic analysis, empowering them to uncover, trace, and document complex financial crimes.