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CONFESSIONS OF A
MONEY LAUNDERER by Kenneth Rijock
MONEY LAUNDERER by Kenneth Rijock
Financial Crime Consultant, for World-Check
Confessions of a Money Launderer - Part 68
8 June 2008
What I found was that my presentation on Internet resources useful in money investigations required weekly updating, as the world wide web was expanding during the mid-1990s at an exponential rate. Whilst websites important in compliance due diligence enquiries evaporated for unknown reasons, this was more than made up by the explosion of both commercial and governmental sites which greatly facilitated armchair investigating. The days when one was forced to visit the city's largest library, public records office, property appraiser, civil & criminal courthouses, law library and newspaper morgue were giving way to quick Boolean searches of websites. True, some of the data useful to me had been converted to CD-ROM format, but the moment you took possession of it, it started to become outdated. The Internet's constant updating feature rendered most other resources obsolete.
As new websites of relevant interest came on-line, I looked for still others that could corroborate and verify information that I had obtained, for there were no certificates of accuracy, and guaranties that the data was correct. In fact, I came to realise that one was obligated to vet data gleaned from Internet sources, as it could possibly be dated, was subject to data entry errors, and even disinformation. Nevertheless, some of the other new tricks for the due diligence toolbox that emerged were:
Next week: the final list of Internet resources available to you for duel diligence enquiries.
- Regional or country-specific search engines: When looking for Internet "footprints," or evidence of commercial activity of a due diligence target, search engines that limited themselves to a region, or even a specific country, are quite helpful. They often are heavy on commercial content, exactly where your target should be mentioned, noted, quoted, or otherwise appearing if he or she or it is legitimate. When a due diligence enquiry subject does not appear anywhere, mental red flags should go up immediately in your brain. Additionally, there may be local, daily, or even weekly, newspapers that are not indexed and picked up by the major universal search engines. You may find their websites and/or articles only on the regional websites.
- Industry websites: Who has not used the legal websites to access appellate decisions, administrative rulings, and court filings that are not available, (or only through cost-based sites) or will not be published for some time? Professional association or regulatory agency websites can also verify good standing, or reveal disciplinary action, where professionals are involved. In other fields, both positive verification, and the absence of records can greatly assist in enquiries involving possible suspicious activities.
- Websites that detail social and charitable events: Whilst experienced white-collar criminals are quite careful in their business activities not to give away anything which could lead an investigator to suspect their criminal activities, off-duty, peoples' social involvement can reveal hidden dangers. The photographs and copy appearing in the society pages, magazine party and event pictorials; birthday, wedding, funeral and celebration coverage by fashion photographers often uncovers close associations and links with unsavory individuals, PEPs, or groups involved in organised crime. Remember, in the Antonini case, a society photographer took a New Years' Eve celebration shot of two people sitting together; a low-level Argentinian government secretary who was the mistress of the then-president of that country, and a Venezuelan operative alleged to be supervising a covert bulk-cash smuggling operation where the reputed recipient of those funds was the presidential election campaign. These society and charity photos can show relationships that the parties do not want you to know about, because they are generally fatal to their chances of establishing an account at your institution.
- Foreign-language websites: Remember, even if you do not speak or even read a particular language, the target's name will still be easy to find, so long as it is in the Western alphabet. With the translation software available, you can easily translate at least the general tenor of the article, even though there are often shortcomings and deficiencies with the translation. Many of the global search engines only search in your language by default; what does your favourite do? Find out, and if necessary, broaden the search parameters. Remember to add the fonts you need before searching in a non-Western language. The results may surprise you.
- Search engines that only return images: Though your first interest is to find a photograph confirming the identity of your due diligence subject, so that you know that the prospective client in the passport photo you have is the right person, the image sites also generally return the entire web-page with the photo. This may also supply needed information on your subject. The two that I use are: http://images.google.com/ and http://www.alltheweb.com/ .
Next week: the final list of Internet resources available to you for duel diligence enquiries.
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
Read more in this exciting series
4 October 2008
28 September 2008
20 September 2008
15 September 2008
15 June 2008
8 June 2008
1 June 2008
26 May 2008
19 May 2008
12 May 2008
4 May 2008
27 April 2008
20 April 2008
13 April 2008
31 March 2008
18 March 2008
4 March 2008
25 February 2008
16 February 2008
10 February 2008
3 February 2008
27 January 2008
20 January 2008
14 January 2008
6 January 2008
16 December 2007
9 December 2007
1 December 2007
25 November 2007
18 November 2007
11 November 2007
3 November 2007
27 October 2007
21 October 2007
14 October 2007
7 October 2007
1 October 2007
23 September 2007
16 September 2007
3 June 2007
27 May 2007
21 May 2007
6 May 2007
30 April 2007
22 April 2007
15 April 2007
8 April 2007
2 April 2007
24 March 2007
19 March 2007
12 March 2007
5 March 2007
25 February 2007
19 February 2007
12 February 2007
4 February 2007
28 January 2007
22 January 2007
15 January 2007
7 January 2007
2 January 2007
16 December 2006
10 December 2006
3 December 2006
27 November 2006
19 November 2006
11 November 2006
5 November 2006
29 October 2006
22 October 2006
16 October 2006
9 October 2006
2 October 2006
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