Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Director Kenneth Blanco today outlined several coronavirus-related trends FinCEN is seeing in cyber crime. These include, including “especially despicable” frauds that use COVID-19 interest as a lure; phishing and other threats associated with remote work; and efforts to undermine customer due diligence practices in the remote environment.
“Financial institutions should consider the risks of the current environment in their business processes, and the appropriate level of assurance needed for digital identity solutions to mitigate criminal exploitation of your products and platforms,” Blanco said in a video presentation to a blockchain conference.
To help financial institutions detect and report these activities, he added that FinCEN plans to public new advisories highlighting “common typologies used in the pervasive fraud, theft, and money laundering activities related to the pandemic.”
