2-3% of $2-3 tn in bank frauds only recovered yearly: Interpol

SINGAPORE: Over 96 per cent of the money transacted through the global banking network is not detected and only 2-3 per cent of the money of the estimated USD 2-3 trillion illegal trade is currently tracked and returned to the victims, a top Interpol official said on Wednesday.

Interpol works with law enforcement agencies and private financial sectors in its 196 member countries and aims to control the growing frauds involving large volumes of money across the world of illicit traders, covering drugs, trafficking in human, arms and financial assets, Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock told reporters here.

To control the annual transactions of a widely estimated $2-3 trillion from illegal trade through the global banking network, “We are talking to banking associations around the world to set up a mechanism to check on transactions,” he said.

“Only two to three per cent of the money is currently tracked and returned to the victims. Over 96 per cent of the money transacted through the global banking network is not detected and between 40 per cent and 70 per cent of the profits are reinvested,” he said of the financial prowess of the criminal world.

Raising alarming issues related to global frauds, Stock said unless the private sector shares real-time information, it is becoming a daunting task for law enforcement agencies to track how money laundering and gains from illegal trades are transacted with just a click on the computer. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making it worse with voice cloning etc., he added.