Fraud, Financial Crime & Payments: Expert Insights

The takeaway from the event was clear: collaboration across sectors is no longer optional, but essential.

Fraud at Scale: The Evolving Threat Landscape

The summit opened with a “Horizon Scan” led by our LexisNexis® Risk Solutions experts Vincent Gaudel, Financial Crime Compliance Expert, and John Hutton, Senior Director of Payments, painting a stark picture of today’s financial crime. The United Nations estimates that money laundering accounts for 3.6% of global GDP¹, yet only 1.1% is ever recovered². Threat actors have grown bolder, better resourced and increasingly tech-savvy in ways that are positioning cybercrime as a foreign policy issue..

John Hutton warned of the darker side of payments innovation: “If it’s not instant, it’s not good enough” has become the new standard, but real-time payments come with instant risk. Instant payments have reached 80% global adoption³, improving liquidity and speed, but also exposing vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit at record speed.

A Survivor’s Story: Why the Human Impact Matters

In a deeply personal fireside chat, Kirsty Guest recounted how she was manipulated into sending $70,000 to a scammer posing as a romantic partner. The fraud was carefully crafted, using emotional blackmail and trust to gain access to her accounts.

Her story was a powerful reminder of what’s at stake. Technology can protect, but empathy and human support are equally vital in the fight against fraud. As speaker Rob Woods, noted during his interview with Kirsty, “Customers are not just accounts, they’re people. And fraud leaves scars that numbers can’t measure.”

The Global Scale of Scams: Operation Shamrock

Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock and a former US Deputy District Attorney, exposed the chilling reality behind “pig butchering” scams — fraud operations run by trafficked and imprisoned workers in scam villages across Southeast Asia. Victims around the world are being drawn into schemes that convert money into crypto and launder it through elaborate digital channels.

West called for urgent regulatory alignment and a “crypto revolution,” noting that law enforcement can only go so far without collaborative support from both governments and the private sector. “They are coming for all of us,” she warned.

Shared Intelligence, Shared Responsibility

The theme of collaboration echoed through the Hidden Masterminds panel, where representatives from Operation Shamrock and the UK’s National Economic Crime Centre discussed how businesses and law enforcement must share intelligence to effectively dismantle large-scale fraud networks.

A customer panel featuring leaders from BNP Paribas, PashaPay and Booking.com reinforced the importance of understanding the psychology of fraud in addition to technical mechanics. Fraud detection must account for changes in customer behavior under stress, not just transactional anomalies.

Following the Money: Compliance in the Crosshairs

A powerful session on the tactics used by sanctioned states and fraud rings to launder funds across borders. From phishing attacks to crypto laundering via casinos, the techniques are sophisticated, patiently timed and globally targeted.

A subsequent compliance panel, featuring Société Générale, Rabobank and HBX Group, highlighted how sanctions regimes are becoming more complex and difficult to manage. The panel emphasized the importance of cross-functional collaboration and technology-driven risk management to stay ahead.

Instant Payments: Innovation Meets Vulnerability

Summit speakers also explored the double-edged nature of instant payments during one of the most dynamic sessions of the day. While enabling better liquidity and customer experience, instant payments leave little room for error; while adding extra pressure for fraud detection strategies to keep pace.

Experts discussed pre-screening techniques, AI-assisted screening and the role of cloud-native platforms in achieving compliance within the critical 10-second window. As Rob Woods, Fraud & Identity Director at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, put it, “Instant payments come with instant risk. Our systems need to be just as fast.”

The AI Race: Weapon and Shield

Closing out the day, Kimberly Sutherland, Global Head of Fraud & Identity, and Eve Whittaker, Market Planning Director, both at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, examined how AI is transforming both fraud prevention and fraud creation. Criminals are actively leveraging generative AI in fraud schemes ranging from deepfake documents to synthetic identities to outpace legacy detection systems.

At the same time, AI is empowering compliance and fraud teams to extract hidden insights from structured and unstructured data. Solutions like IDVerse® and BehavioSec® are helping institutions act faster, smarter and more precisely. The key challenge? Adoption. Regulatory uncertainty, transparency concerns and internal readiness remain major hurdles.

Looking Ahead: From Reactive to Proactive

One message rang loud and clear throughout the entire event: the time to act is now. Fraud doesn’t respect borders, time zones or regulations, so our response must be just as fast, flexible and united.

In a world defined by real-time everything, success lies not just in innovation, but in cooperation. Whether it’s a survivor’s story, a sanctions challenge or a blockchain trail, the power to disrupt fraud grows when we connect the dots and collaborate together.


References:

1 UNODC -Estimating illicit financial flows resulting from drug trafficking and other transnational organized crimes
2 Europol - Criminal Asset Recovery In The EU
3 CAPCO - Instant Payments