By Andy Scherpenberg

Still too few organisations realize just how much recent evolutions in the digital world have changed the spectrum, efficacy, depth and invisibility of fraud. The far-reaching automation and sophistication of the systems of cybercriminals allow them to do a huge amount of damage with a very small team and very little effort. But with terrifying results, if you realize that fraud in 2014 is estimated to cost roughly around 3 trillion euros (yes, that’s a 3 with 12 zeros after it). Continue reading…

by Andy Scherpenberg

VAT carousels, intentional road collisions to defraud the insurance companies, ‘man in the browser’ technology that intercepts your financial transactions and modifies both amount and account number while you are still seeing the usual transaction screens: fraud has permeated every sector and is taking new forms and shapes. Fraudsters are becoming smarter by the day and they have access to more and more resources. In a previous blog post you could already get a sense if the impressive weaponry that the fraudsters have at their disposal. Continue reading…

by Andy Scherpenberg

VAT carousels, intentional road collisions to defraud the insurance companies, ‘man in the browser’ technology that intercepts your financial transactions and modifies both amount and account number while you are still seeing the usual transaction screens: fraud has permeated every sector and is taking new forms and shapes. Fraudsters are becoming smarter by the day and they have access to more and more resources. An overview.

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by Jos Feyaert

The battle against Tax erosion and the black economy can be fought by repression and heavy administrative control mechanisms and technologies as the white registers in restaurants and pubs. In Belgian we know what efforts have to be brought before it can be implemented. But why we don’t fight (at least partially) against it by using modern digital gamification technics, based on encouraging users (the crowd of clients) for asking for getting official invoices and bills from their suppliers. To be sure that the documents are not only issued, but also be registered and declared to the tax-authorities, one could organize a national lottery based upon the registered invoices.

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It is a well-worn phrase “we need to do more with less”! Or in other words, can we ensure that more than one task we have to do in our day jobs can be incorporated in a single effort to ‘gain efficiencies’ or, in real speak, ultimately save money ? So I thought I would look at a typical AML and typical Trade Credit policy and see just how different or similar they were. Now, I do not profess to be a compliance officer nor have I had the stress of being a CFO so I will accept that the devil is always in the detail. However, here are just a few areas I thought seemed to have a very real sense of similarity. Here are just five examples.

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by Jérôme Bryssinck

The agency responsible for combating carousel fraud in Belgium is the Special Tax Inspectorate (ISI), a division of Belgium’s Federal Public Service Finance. Yannic Hulot, ISI Director, recently explained how carousel fraud has been nearly eradicated in Belgium – and how a similar system could be implemented across Europe to get rid of VAT carousel fraud in the broader region.

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