Money lost to online scams can be intercepted and recovered, provided the victims react in time and alert the banks involved in the transactions, according to the Interpol.
The international criminal police organisation, in a statement, said its toolkit showed that even after a victim’s money had been transferred from account, it could still be possible to intercept the funds.
“Too often, victims of online scams will be reluctant to take action once they realise they have been defrauded, feeling shame or assuming that it is already too late to get their money back. Frontline police officers can also be unsure as to what should be done, especially when the scams contain an international component such as cross-border financial transactions,” it said.
Toolkit sharing
Entitled “Take Action: Urgent Stop-Payment Requests and Provisional Money-Freezing Orders” and visible to law enforcement only, the toolkit is being shared across the Interpol’s network of 194 member-countries.
A webinar on the same issue was held on July 29 for more than 500 representatives of law enforcement, national financial intelligence units (FIUs) and international anti-money laundering bodies, with over 100 countries represented.
“Many people think that there is nothing that can be done once a victim’s money is transferred abroad but there are systems in place to recall fraudulent transactions,” said Tomonobu Kaya, Financial Crimes Coordinator at the Interpol.
Recall request
“The first course of action should always be for the victim to contact bank, inform them that the transaction was fraudulent and urge them to make a recall request on their dedicated bank-to-bank communication system to the beneficiary bank abroad,” he said. They should also alert the police.
Explaining the process, the Interpol said that on receipt of a recall request, the bank that emitted the fraudulent transfer would send a message requesting cancellation of the payment to the beneficiary bank by following the same route taken by the victim’s money.
“As long as the funds have not been withdrawn from the beneficiary bank by the perpetrators, there is a good chance that the funds can be blocked and refunded,” it said, adding that the victims could also locate the bank to which the funds were transferred.
Free online tools can be used to track down the beneficial bank, based on the individual and unique taxonomy of each account number in combination with the bank code. Another quick search using the beneficiary bank’s name and the keywords “complaint” or “online contact” can then provide victims the appropriate point of contact, according to the note.
The Interpol said while the two courses of actions were pivotal in the immediate term, its toolkit also described further channels and steps the law enforcement could take to intercept and recover the proceeds of financial fraud.
“These include liaising with dedicated points of contacts within Interpol’s National Central Bureaus or domestic FIUs,” it added.
