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AML/CFT concerns about casinos and gaming remain strong and are an integral part of FATF mutual evaluation reports (MERs), as the global body approaches its fourth round of MERs. In its February (2023) guidance on MER procedures, FATF placed casino supervisory bodies at the top of the list of designated non-financial business and professions (DNFBP) actors to interview during scheduled MER visits (1).…

AML experts are increasingly concerned that jurisdictions worldwide are still failing to act against key enablers of money laundering, such as lawyers, trust and company service providers (TCSPs), accountants, estate agents, casinos and luxury goods traders, who ask no questions or ignore money laundering (ML).…

A group of European Union (EU) member states is pressing for delays in approving lab-grown meat for sale in the EU, calling for a broad debate on a wide range of economic and social impacts. A common note to the EU Council of Ministers has been written by Austria, France and Italy, backed by the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.…

With online living increasingly prevalent, data is becoming more valuable and hence criminals are developing new tactics to steal these digital assets. Anti-fraud organisations, consultants and vendors are trying to monitor these innovations, to help law enforcement, government and business respond, but their protections often remain too weak.…

While the basic principle of fraud – obtaining property by deception – holds as true today as ever – one New Year resolution for anti-fraud teams should be assessing the risks posed by recent technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Combined with the general Covid-19-inspired shift towards online living, AI has offered fraudsters new weapons and wider targets for this year and beyond.…

Imposing bans on disposable e-cigarettes or vapes will not help people stop smoking and are counterproductive, European vape experts have told Tobacco Journal International (TJI).

Their comments come in the wake of myriad plans to ban or impose high taxes on these products, which contain nicotine and are regarded by some as harmful for health.…

An Interpol police operation cracking down on online financial crime across 34 countries (1) worldwide led to 3,500 arrests and saw a total USD300 million seized – USD199 million in hard currency and USD101 million in virtual assets. The global agency’s six-month HEACHI IV operation, which ran from July to December 2023, targeted seven types of cyber-enabled swindles: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud and e-commerce fraud.…

The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has predicted that the chocolate industry will continue to face cocoa supply deficits, with its latest quarterly assessment predicting that for 2022/3, there will be 99,000 tonnes more grindings than cocoa production. As a result, global stocks will fall to 1.744 million tonnes, amidst declines in output from key production hubs Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.…

The New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has called for comments on planned reductions to allowable lead levels in paints, and in art materials such as chalk, crayons, and felt-tip pens.

The country’s current lead level limit for paint is 0.1% (1,000 parts per million/ppm) and the proposed changes would reduce this to 0.009% (90ppm), in line with countries including Australia, Canada and the United States, the EPA said in a note.…

The global market for tallow, traditionally a common ingredient in the production of soaps, detergents, and lubricants, is undergoing considerable movement, driven by rising consumption of meat products coupled with the rising usage of tallow in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, biofuels and feeds industries.…