BRUSSELS, Belgium – INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) brought together key stakeholders to boost international cooperation on fraud, ahead of next month’s Global Fraud Summit in Vienna, 16 – 17 March.
The event, “Unmasking Fraud: A Deep Dive Ahead of the Global Fraud Summit,” gathered representatives from EU institutions, national law enforcement agencies, and international organizations to assess emerging fraud trends and align preparatory efforts.
Fraud continues to grow in scale, complexity, and cross-border reach. According to INTERPOL’s 2024 Global Financial Fraud Assessment, modern fraud is increasingly organized, technology-enabled, and integrated with other forms of transnational crime. These include phishing, investment scams, identity theft, and deepfake-driven fraud – often targeting individuals, businesses, and public institutions simultaneously.
Discussions in Brussels focused on operational gaps, jurisdictional challenges, and the need for coordinated intelligence sharing against emerging fraud threats, including digital and cross-border fraud patterns linked to organized crime.
The event, hosted at the UN House, included interventions from the European Commission, the UK Home Office, INTERPOL, and UNODC.
Roraima Andriani, INTERPOL’s Special Representative to the EU, underscored the economic and human dimension of fraud:
“Fraud begins with a message, a call, a moment of trust – then takes more than money: it steals peace of mind. Behind every statistic is a person broken by deception.
“Today, fraud is one of the most pervasive crimes of our time. It crosses borders easily, exploits technology endlessly, and affects millions worldwide.”
Participants highlighted the importance of aligning regulatory frameworks, enhancing digital forensics capacity, and improving victim support mechanisms.
They also called for sustained, institutionalized collaboration – not only between law enforcement, but also with financial institutions, tech platforms, and civil society.
The Global Fraud Summit in Vienna will bring together ministers, senior law enforcement officials, representatives from civil society and academia, and private-sector leaders under a unified framework to combat fraud.