Archives 2021

Financial or Cyber Crimes are examples of crimes against people. Crime is creative, it’s everywhere – and as always, nothing new. The very nature of any business is to exploit an opportunity versus a demand. These efforts exist in all forms. But the problem lies with the way the product is produced, who the stakeholders are, and if its production process adheres to all legislation – whatever the product may be. This is the grey area in which green crime often covertly operates!

When it comes to our natural surroundings and biodiverse resources – it’s a sensitive and harder thing to determine what constitutes a moral disposition, what is an outright crime, and what represents honourable business – because the line often becomes blurred. Humans rely on the environment exclusively to survive. But with a line in the sand between each other based on what we can harvest, instead of nurture. 

Cruelty, too, is binary in its view and a highly debatable and emotional subject, particularly when cultures and traditions clash with the ethical treatment of animals and nature. Crime by definition is also (and always) invisible and covert in its operation. This often makes it extremely difficult to call out the nefarious activities of a seemingly-harmless enterprise or service offering. 

The problem is that deviousness is not as easy as it is in the movies to spot. And green crime is particularly sophisticated as it can often be wrapped up in so many “endearing” ways for display, conjuring smiles and applause but for all the wrong reasons. Not to mention the “local economic benefits” disclaimer often added, to distract from its dark, environmental cost.

Crimes Against Mother Nature

This is what Green Crime is all about – heinous acts that exploit our environment for profit. Animal testing/entrapment, illicit trade, poaching and smuggling, just to name a few. Cartels and syndicates running the actual show that we as the public know nothing about. “Just a trinket” from Africa can very easily have a story behind it that can close a curio chain within a heartbeat, should its dark origins be exposed! 

Green Crime is Nothing New

Time and a collective understanding of what is ethical, moral and lawful in our attitude towards nature have taught a global society a set of lessons that help define the parameters of what has evolved to be understood as “it’s not cool anymore“.

Raising the awareness around fur coats, baby seals, eating veal, foie-gras, the use of plastic and fireworks in general, to mention but a few. Also adding to the pressure and heat from developed litigation and global advocacy groups to those that deserve it. Those that harm and without accountability for their actions. Refusing to see how it affects us all. Green crime has existed since the dawn of colonisation, heightened during the periods of industrialisation, and still pervades to this day!

The controversies surrounding oil, drilling, fracking or exposes such as the Blackfish documentary come to mind. How has that bear, tiger or elephant been trained to do those spectacular acts on stage? And what is the payoff to the conservation foundations involved from the exploiters to keep the veil up that high? This is just one of our regular blog articles but could very well be a series of books. Where does one start? With a question.

Where Does Green Crime Come From?

It is quite a tricky phenomenon to understand, and it is often very shocking to see how deep some of these environmental crimes run when they are eventually unmasked. It is borne out of greed and the need to make a quick buck, at the expense of the environment and its most vulnerable inhabitants. But technology has developed tenfold, in terms of fighting the problem. Cloud computing now serves us all with verified transparency to identify the ones we should all be after. Combining these advancements with “leaks” and brave whistleblowers, society is now bravely standing up and asking pertinent questions and demanding answers around green crime. It is high time for acts of environmental criminality masquerading as “essential economic activity” to be monitored, identified, flagged and shut down!

RAHN Financial Crime – Engaging the Threat

The transaction monitoring capabilities of the Rahn Financial Crime Platform enable organizations to identify specific types of transactions which can be associated with wildlife Trafficking and the type of people no company can afford to be associated with. This is done by monitoring transactions to identify suspicious activity known to resemble transactions that are concluded by traffickers. An example of such would be transactions where large deposits are immediately withdrawn, close to conservation borders or by screening your transactions through a Sanctions Database. 

RAHN Consolidated Pty Ltd. is a Proudly South African company, committed to equipping financial professionals with real-time resources to take the fight against trafficking rings and other organised crime syndicates. Our planet, our ecosystem and future generations depend on our current expertise. Contact us today to explore how we can empower your business with a green crime strategy that keeps your name and reputation clean from any associated harm.

In the murky world of financial crime, human trafficking, people smuggling and modern slavery surely stand out as the most callous and despicable acts perpetrated by organised crime syndicates. From the mass drownings that occur across the Mediterranean and English channel on an almost daily basis to the many child trafficking rings exposed across the world, the depravity of human trafficking never ceases to shock and amaze us.

This article looks at the sobering state of human trafficking in Africa while outlining the case for how financial crime and anti-money laundering experts act as a crucial intermediary in stopping human trafficking ‘in its tracks’.

A Financial Crime worsened by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Human trafficking remains a terrifying issue that does not escape colour, class or creed, and has unfortunately been further exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, as Governments and expert agencies focus on the economic and vaccination response. As the criminal syndicates who fuel this illicit trade increasingly adopt the dark web to conduct their activities, financial crime and compliance officers now play a critical role, alongside law enforcement, in identifying suspicious transactions and flagging individuals who may be complicit in human trafficking. 

The Extent of Human Trafficking in Africa

On the same day that the Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, is set to begin in New York, African statistics paint a grim picture of its proliferation across the continent. According to the Traffik Analysis Hub in the UK, and the African Institute for Security Studies, it is estimated that each and every year, an additional 3.5 million African citizens are being trafficked, while close to nine million Africans are currently being enslaved. Almost every African state is identified as either a source, transit, or destination country for victims, making this a significant issue for all nations to address.

The Role of the Public and Private Sector in Fighting Back

The global crime syndicates involved in human trafficking, operate through a veiled cloak of online secrecy that is almost impossible to intercept. However, the one area of opportunity to disrupt and dismantle these syndicates is through the monitoring of the financial transactions of suspected individuals. Compliance and financial crime professionals can assist in identifying, flagging and reporting suspicious activities through the following methods;

• Identify red flags and report suspect financial activities before they are processed and cleared. 
• Financial companies to empower regulatory and compliance teams with the relevant resources to take reporting action on each individual suspicious activity
• Enhanced Sanctions screenings process while onboarding new customers. 
• Leverage the latest technologies and localised platforms to help identify risks and raise red flags

RAHN Financial Crime – Turning the Tide against Human Trafficking

The transaction monitoring capabilities of the Rahn Financial Crime Platform enables organisations to identify specific types of transactions which can be associated with Human Trafficking. This is done by monitoring transactions to identify suspicious activity known to resemble transactions that are concluded by traffickers. An example of such would be transactions where large deposits are immediately withdrawn, close to international borders. In this case, the location of the branch where the transaction was executed, the size of the withdrawal (including aggregation) and the timing of the transaction will all be considered to identify potentially suspicious activity.

RAHN Consolidated Pty Ltd. is a proudly South African company, committed to equipping financial professionals with real-time resources to take the fight against human trafficking rings and other organised crime syndicates. Contact us today to explore how we can empower your business with a financial attack strategy to help put an end to human trafficking.

Sanctions screening is a process undertaken by financial institutions, with the help of specialised software, to help them identify and detect any potential financial crimes, either while onboarding a new client, or screening an existing customer. It plays a crucial role in trying to prevent money laundering, while also forming part of the Customer Due diligence process for the banking industry, insurance companies and FinTechs who act as registered credit providers.

Keeping your ‘Eyes on the List’ in Testing Times

One would safely assume that Sanctions screening plays an everyday role in the compliance and regulatory procedures of institutions that manage the transactions of prominent, influential and politically-connected people. However, as recently outlined in our financial crime compliance case study, anti-money laundering control measures are coming under closer scrutiny by the South African Reserve Bank. Companies that fail to meet the high standards required, run the risk of severe financial penalties for any oversight. While the pandemic, and the resultant economic crisis, has forced many institutions into major financial cutbacks and retrenchments – the result has been a severe erosion in the quality of compliance and regulatory affairs of major players in the financial system.

Sanctions Screening  – Compounded by the Crypto-Explosion

Perhaps the biggest differentiator between cash transactions and cryptocurrency has, up until now, been the wide gap in the sanctions compliance requirements between fiscal and digital assets. With more and more people now joining the “crypto-revolution”, and an increasing number of rogue actors (and even Governments) using ‘crypto’ to either hide or move, their criminal transactions, something has got to give, very soon.

Crypto-Risk is set to become a significant part of sanctions screening in the next decade. It remains to be seen how compliance will evolve. What we do know, however, is that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and will require the same standard of financial crime compliance as the brick and mortar institutions around the world. Watch this space!

Introducing RAHN Monitor

If your company is still looking for a localised solution to meet the strict SARB requirements for financial crime compliance, your search ends here. RAHN monitor is a real-time software application that monitors identifies, mitigates and analyzes your sanction screening outcome data. The software team at RAHN have simplified the approach to sanctions screening with a proudly South African solution that; enhances data quality, stops money laundering, and always ensures company compliance.

RAHN monitor consists of three main components, which include 

– a sanctions dataset that is updated to daily synchronize with the majority of the sanctions listing. 

– a search function.

– the ability to develop custom internal datasets. 

The search function allows users to search for specific individuals via the user interface, while compliance officers and managers who need to confirm a sanctions-hit can use the app before making an onboarding or instant decision. You can manage your account, buy more searches, clear your local database, by a license for the application, or view search history

RAHN Consolidated – Sanctions Screening, Simplified

At Rahn, we believe that financial crime compliance software should be accessible and affordable to all financial institutions struggling to keep up in this fast-paced, ever-changing landscape. Discover how we can help your business analyse, detect and mitigate against sanctioned individuals, or avail of a host of specialised consulting and recruitment services which can take your business forward. Contact our Team today to explore your options, or request a demo.