Think like a criminal to prevent financial crime, says specialist

Crime prevention expert Shamir Rajadurai implored financial institutions to abandon their fixation on the latest scam tactics and instead gain insight into the minds of criminals. Addressing a media roundtable ahead of a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Rajadurai argued that businesses closely analyze customer behavior when creating products, suggesting that financial institutions should adopt a similar approach to studying criminal thought processes.

This would enable them to spot vulnerabilities in their systems and predict how criminals might take advantage of them. Rajadurai emphasized that the primary issue stems from an overemphasis on the current tactics, rather than focusing on the criminal themselves. He urged institutions to begin thinking like criminals in order to better protect against financial crime.

Drawing from his experience demonstrating how seemingly secure locks can be breached with simple methods, Rajadurai applied this analogy to financial crime prevention, advocating that compliance officers should question how criminals might bypass existing controls. He used the example of mule accounts, noting that criminals are aware that banks cannot simply profile every customer entering the system.

He stressed that as banks, they must identify ways to close these loopholes. Meanwhile, Transparency International Malaysia's president, Raymon Ram, revealed that the organization is conducting interviews with convicted mule-account offenders in prisons to gain a deeper understanding of how they are recruited and why they participate.

Ram explained that the research aims to explore the recruitment process, motivations, and awareness of the consequences among mules. He highlighted that not all mules are fully aware of their role, providing the example of university students being lured into mule activity through seemingly legitimate job opportunities that involve using their accounts for online bank transfers.