April in Financial Crime: The Month Enforcement Started Dismantling the Architecture
April in Financial Crime: The Month Enforcement Started Dismantling the Architecture April in Financial Crime: The Month Enforcement Started Dismantling the Architecture April in Financial Crime: The Month Enforcement Started Dismantling the Architecture For most of the last decade, financial crime enforcement has functioned as a treadmill. Investigators arrest the operators, prosecutors charge the executors, […]
Lab Report #4
Lab Report #4 This week in financial Crime Lab Report #4 This week in financial Crime Lab Report #4 – This week in financial Crime This was the week the United States and China announced the first publicly reported, jointly executed enforcement operation against transnational fraud, with 276 arrests across nine scam centres in coordinated […]
Lab Report #3
Lab Report #3 This Week in Financial Crime Lab Report #3 This Week in Financial Crime Lab Report #3 – This Week in Financial Crime This was the week the United States moved against the political and financial enablers of Southeast Asian scam compounds – sanctioning a Cambodian senator, charging compound managers, and restraining $700 […]
Lab Report #1
Lab Report #1 This Week in Financial Crime Lab report #1 This week in financial crime Lab report #1 – This week in financial crime This has been one of the most structurally significant weeks in financial crime policy in recent memory. The United States has fundamentally reorganised how it prosecutes fraud, the UK has […]
What are your real chances of being scammed in the UK?
What are your real chances of being scammed in the UK? What are your real chances of being scammed in the UK? What are your real chances of being scammed in the UK? Most people believe fraud happens to other people. The careless ones, the elderly, the ones who “don’t understand technology.” Statistically speaking, that […]
Procedural Injustice: The Hidden Cost of Fraud Controls
Procedural Injustice: The Hidden Cost of Fraud Controls Procedural Injustice: The Hidden Cost of Fraud Controls Procedural Injustice: A little while ago, I did a podcast with Chris Ward for the CCMA | Contact Centre Management Association (You can find out more info or take a listen here). Part of our conversation was about the […]
Podcast: Harm without violence.
New Podcast: In episode one of SCAM: Financial Crime by Design, criminologist Dr Nicola Harding explores how fraud causes harm without violence, why financial crime is misunderstood, and how trust, behaviour, and system design shape modern scams.
Elf On A Shelf vs Transaction Monitoring
What the Elf on the Shelf reveals about financial crime deterrence, and how visible AML design / transaction monitoring can build trust, shape behaviour, and prevent financial crime.
Fraud Is Evolving Faster Than We’re Measuring It – But New Intelligence Helps Us Catch Up
The Global Fraud Index 2025 reveals how fraud is evolving into a systemic global risk, driven by misaligned policy, technology, and economic pressures. Drawing on the latest data, this article explores why rising fraud activity, AI-enabled identity crime, and uneven government intervention show that prevention is no longer just a technical challenge, but a question of how resilient our digital societies really are.
An Unexpected Secret Weapon for Fraud Leaders: A Criminologist on Call
Fraudsters rehearse their scripts for months. But your call centre agent might get 20 seconds. Customers replace stolen phones without telling their bank, while criminals quietly log in on the new device. And when new regulations arrive, everyone scrambles to comply – only to find fraud losses rising in unexpected ways. Unfortunately, these aren’t abstract problems. They’re real-world cracks in the system that I’ve seen again and again in my work with banks and fintechs, and vulnerability research. They’re also perfect examples of why having a criminologist inside your team can change the game. Let’s solve some of these problems together using criminological understanding and fraud prevention by design principles.