AUSTRAC the value of suspicious matter reporting Markus Erikson, - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

AUSTRAC the value of suspicious matter reporting Markus Erikson, Director Intelligence, AUSTRAC July 2020

About AUSTRAC Serious crime is motivated by profit, and no matter the size, most criminal acts leave a financial trail. AUSTRAC is the Australian Government agency Through strong regulation , and enhanced responsible for detecting, deterring and intelligence capabilities , AUSTRAC collects and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial analyses financial reports and information to system to protect the community from serious generate financial intelligence. and organised crime. This vital information about potential criminals Criminals seek to exploit vulnerabilities within and criminal activity contributes to our the financial sector to disguise illicit funds to national security and law enforcement enable other serious crimes such as terrorism, investigations. slavery, drug trafficking, child exploitation, fraud and corruption.

What is the criminal threat environment? The superannuation sector faces a range of criminal threats – from offences by individual members to complex crimes. The volume and value of money moving through the superannuation sector makes it an attractive target for money laundering and fraud . Recent fraud cases have involved criminals using falsified documents to illegally access the early release of superannuation initiative, which is available to vulnerable Australians who legitimately need to access the scheme.

Protecting your business and our community Meeting your AUSTRAC obligations protects your business and our financial system against misuse for criminal purposes. There are a range of obligations, including taking steps to identify a customer and checking they are who they say they are and reporting suspicious matters . Reporting suspicious customer behaviour contributes directly to law enforcement investigations to protect the Australian community from crime.

What is AUSTRAC seeing? Since 2016 - 2020 Reporting increases and Common themes and crimes greater awareness disrupted from reporting Include illegal early Significant year-on-year release, identity fraud, tax increases in suspicious evasion and movement of matter reporting from the proceeds of crime superannuation funds

Fraud types targeting the Early Release of Superannuation initiative Individuals manipulating economic circumstances Individuals fraudulently using another person’s ID to access their superannuation Attempted large scale fraud by organised crime groups

Reporting SMRs is evidence that a fund is likely to have effective AML/CTF systems and controls in place…

The value of suspicious reports Recent superannuation related reporting that led to the disruption of attempted fraud included: • Identified links between newly opened accounts • Reporting of user agent data to access accounts and systems • Discrepancies between expected behaviour and the movement of funds

Guidance and resources Visit AUSTRAC’s website for guidance and resources and superannuation industry specific guidance to support you to comply and report. If you have questions about your AUSTRAC compliance obligations, please contact us by emailing contact@austrac.gov.au