Organized crime makes swindling go global

Abstract

In September 2007, EUROPOL and regulatory and consumer protection agencies in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Nigeria, United Kingdom, and the U.S. created the International Mass Marketing Fraud Working Group (IMMFWG) with the aim of exchanging information and coordinating border operation to detect, apprehend and terminate mass marketing fraud, and improve public information on the international schemes operating in Africa, North America and Europe, as well as in Brazil, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Israel and Thailand. This is an incisive global threat that affects millions of people and companies from around the world each year, representing losses of tens of billion dollars and the financial wellbeing of staff and families. In June 2010, the Group presented its report on “Mass Marketing Fraud: A Threat Assessment”, on which this article is based.