The Advisory highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic is being exploited in “cyber-enabled crime through malware and phishing schemes, extortion, business email compromise (BEC) fraud, and exploitation of remote applications.” FinCEN identifies numerous “red flag indicators of COVID-19 cyber-enabled crimes to assist financial institutions in detecting, preventing, and reporting suspicious transactions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

At the same time, FinCEN warns financial institutions they should continue to “consider additional contextual information and the surrounding facts and circumstances, such as a customer’s historical financial activity, whether the transactions are in line with prevailing business practices, and whether the customer exhibits multiple indicators, before determining if a transaction is suspicious or otherwise indicative of potential fraudulent COVID-19-related activities.” In other words, fundamental, long-established signs of suspicious activity apply equally, if not more so, in the COVID-19 era.

The impact of COVID-19 on funds transfer schemes was recently reviewed in an ABA webinar Salvatore Scanio presented with Ben Wallach, Cybercrime and Funds Transfer Fund – Recent Developments. 

The lively program discussed the latest trends in cybercrime involving fraudulent funds transfers. They reviewed recent funds transfer schemes, including those arising as a result of the COVID-19 era. The program discussed the latest developments in the legal regime applicable to fraudulent ACH and wire transfers, and explained the allocation of liability in such cases. They also addressed schemes involving law firms. The webinar featured numerous questions and answers throughout the event.

For a copy of the program materials, please contact Salvatore Scanio at sscanio@ludwigrobinson.com.