The One Where We Explore Human Trafficking

The One Where We Explore Human Trafficking

In this episode, Sylwia and Amritha examine trafficking in human beings as a predicate offence — what it actually is, how its financial footprints appear in banking and payments data, and why it concerns everyone from transaction monitoring analysts to supply chain compliance teams. You'll learn: why trafficking is often financially detectable before it is criminally provable — and why that makes financial institutions the front line, not a supporting act what Suspicious Activity Reports are, why they matter, and why in practice the system is both essential and badly broken the difference between what AML teams are expected to do (spot and report) and what corporate compliance teams are expected to do (spot, investigate, and actually fix it) ten recurring financial typologies — from funnel accounts and smurfing to debt bondage repayment patterns and third-party wage control — that regulators associate with trafficking and exploitation how to translate those typologies into transaction monitoring scenarios without crossing into the trap of thinking you are identifying victims rather than flagging suspicious financial behaviour why the Libya slave trade, the Yemen trafficking camps, and the Dyson supply chain case all point to the same thing: the money moves before the crime is proven, and following it is how investigators make a difference Resources & links: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/glotip.html https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/protocoltraffickinginpersons.aspx https://washingtoncentre.org/rico-and-rescue-how-legal-tools-can-disrupt-human-trafficking-networks/ Cases & Examples https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/25/yemens-torture-camps/abuse-migrants-human-traffickers-climate-impunity https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jan/22/uae-ordered-to-pay-260000-to-trafficking-victim-exploited-by-diplomat-in-london https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/05/saudi-arabia-migrant-domestic-workers-face-severe-exploitation-racism-and-exclusion-from-labour-protections/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65987378 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6pdxj1dw1o https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/13/i-trusted-him-human-trafficking-surges-in-cyclone-hit-east-india https://www.icij.org/investigations/trafficking-inc/about-trafficking-inc/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-55765213 https://www.ihrb.org/latest/the-dyson-case-a-landmark-moment-for-business-and-human-rights Sponsors: We’re proudly independent but we partner with companies who share our passion for smarter due diligence and investigations. Inquirify is a global risk intelligence partner providing due diligence, OSINT, GSOC and investigative support across complex jurisdictions. Our philosophy is simple: Verify before you trust. We provide clear, actionable insights to protect your business and support growth. Find out more at: https://www.inquirify.net JAM Insights delivers human‑driven intelligence you can’t get from screens alone. When conventional OSINT and AI fall short, JAM taps into trusted local sources, on‑the‑ground research, and deep industry assessments to identify hidden risks, reputational red flags, and jurisdiction‑specific issues that matter for high‑stakes due diligence, compliance, and strategic decision‑making. With tailored insights spanning key regions and strict confidentiality, JAM helps clients see what others overlook and act with confidence Find out more:.https://www.jam-insights.com Subscribe & Follow Subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone in risk, compliance or investigations — or anyone who thinks human trafficking is someone else's problem to solve.

The One about Bribery & Corruption

In this episode, Sylwia and Amritha examine bribery and corruption as predicate offences — the crimes that generate dirty money long before a suspicious transaction alert fires or a sanctions designation lands. They explore why understanding the law is only the starting point, and why geopolitics, local practice, and cultural context are just as essential for anyone working in AML or corporate compliance. You'll learn: why bribery is the only predicate offence with its own dedicated international treaty architecture — and why it made corporate "failure to prevent" a criminal matter before any other crime did how the Unaoil case illustrates the gap between who pays fines and who actually recovers the proceeds of crime what Odebrecht — a Brazilian construction giant that created an entire internal division dedicated to managing bribes across twelve countries — reveals about industrialised corporate corruption and the extraterritorial reach of US law how the Adani case shows what happens when political proximity, offshore structures, and state contracts converge — and why the FCPA pause matters most in precisely these politically sensitive situations why AML and ABC compliance teams are looking at the same risk from opposite ends, and why that gap is exactly where schemes live the three Cs — conduct, connections, and context — and what red flags look like in practice what the UK's December 2025 Anti-Corruption Strategy and new Five Eyes indicators guidance mean for transaction monitoring and third-party due diligence Resources & links: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/pausing-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-enforcement-to-further-american-economic-and-national-security/ https://www.occrp.org/en/news/us-ditches-key-anti-bribery-law-critics-warn-of-global-corruption-surge https://www.occrp.org/en/news/german-ex-mp-convicted-in-azerbaijan-bribery-scandal https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-authorities-mixed-up-eu-lawmaker-with-namesake-huawei-bribery-probe/ https://eucrim.eu/news/high-risk-areas-of-corruption-in-the-eu-in-depth-report-highlights-six-vulnerable-sectors/ https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/260114-top-10-international-anti-corruption-developments-for-december-2025 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/02/trump-uae-crypto-deal https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/18/us-drops-fraud-charges-after-billionaire-adani-pledges-10bn-investment https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39194395 https://whistleblowerjustice.net/blog/birth-of-the-fcpa-this-bribery-is-positively-bananas/ Sponsors: We're proudly independent but we partner with companies who share our passion for smarter due diligence and investigations. The Search Group - Every Decision Carries Risk. Managing it requires more than surface-level checks. At The Search Group (TSG), we deliver specialist due diligence and risk intelligence through a global network of expert hubs, combining deep local insight with global perspective. For over 15 years we have supported clients across 100+ jurisdictions with Compliance reviews, Pre-transaction due diligence, Investigations and Ethics advisory. Our tailored research transforms complexity into clarity and risk into opportunity – empowering confident, informed decisions. Discover how TSG can support your next big move at www.thesearchgroup.com. Subscribe & Follow Subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone in risk, compliance or investigations — or anyone who thinks bribery is just an envelope under a table.

The One with Terrorist Financing

In this episode, Sylwia and Amritha examine terrorist financing — how money moves to support terrorist organisations, why it differs from money laundering, and how ordinary companies can become caught in the middle. You’ll learn: why terrorist financing is about purpose, not just source of funds, how clean money can become criminal depending on where it goes why terrorist financing and money laundering are linked but fundamentally different, how charities, informal value transfer systems, trade and digital payments can be misused, what the Lafarge, Chiquita and Ericsson cases reveal about corporate exposure, what investigators, AML teams and due diligence professionals should look for when assessing terrorist financing risk. Resources & links: FATF – Terrorist financing: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/topics/terrorist-financing.html UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism: https://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/english-18-11.pdf DOJ Lafarge guilty plea: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/lafarge-pleads-guilty-conspiring-provide-material-support-foreign-terrorist-organizations ICIJ Ericsson Files: https://www.icij.org/investigations/ericsson-list/ DOJ Chiquita case: https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_161.html https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/fcpa-changes-terrorist-designations-cartels-latin-america/ https://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/12/colombia.chiquita.farc/?hpt=T2 https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/lafarge-in-syria-accusations-of-complicity-in-grave-human-rights-violations/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl1441816po Sponsors: We’re proudly independent but we partner with companies who share our passion for smarter due diligence and investigations. Inquirify is a global risk intelligence partner providing due diligence, OSINT, GSOC and investigative support across complex jurisdictions. Our philosophy is simple: Verify before you trust. We provide clear, actionable insights to protect your business and support growth. Find out more at: https://www.inquirify.net Subscribe & Follow Subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone in risk, compliance or investigations or anyone who thinks terrorist financing is a remote problem.

The One on CSAM

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse material (CSAM), online child sexual exploitation, trafficking, and related investigations. Some listeners may find the subject matter distressing. Please take care while listening. In one of the most difficult — and important — episodes we’ve produced, Amritha and Sylwia examine the financial systems, investigative methods, and compliance failures connected to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and online child sexual exploitation. The episode begins with the takedown of Welcome to Video, once the world’s largest known dark-web CSAM marketplace, uncovered after IRS investigators followed suspicious Bitcoin flows. From blockchain forensics and crypto tracing to dark-web infrastructure and live-streamed abuse, the episode explores how financial intelligence increasingly sits at the centre of these investigations. You’ll learn: why the term “CSAM” matters, how online child exploitation operates financially, the role of crypto and payment systems and the rise of AI-generated abuse material, investigative techniques used by law enforcement, and what the Jeffrey Epstein banking failures reveal about culture, ethics and compliance. Resources & links: BBC World of Secrets (The darkest web): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct8yw5 https://jacobin.com/2026/02/fbi-epstein-kuchner-whistleblower-silenced https://www.acams.org/en/news/ex-aml-officer-claims-deutsche-fired-her-after-she-flagged-epstein-transactions https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-50073092 https://www.icmec.org/press/new-report-examines-cryptocurrencys-role-in-online-child-sexual-exploitation/ https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/child-sexual-abuse-material-csam-results-from-a-survey-of-perpetrators https://eucrim.eu/news/operation-alice-exposes-fraudulent-csam-platform/ https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/global-crackdown-kidflix-major-child-sexual-exploitation-platform-almost-two-million-users If you or someone you know needs support or wants to report child exploitation material, reporting resources include the NCMEC CyberTipline (US), the Internet Watch Foundation (UK), and INHOPE’s global hotline network. Sponsors: We’re proudly independent but we partner with companies who share our passion for smarter due diligence and investigations. JAM Insights delivers human‑driven intelligence you can’t get from screens alone. When conventional OSINT and AI fall short, JAM taps into trusted local sources, on‑the‑ground research, and deep industry assessments to identify hidden risks, reputational red flags, and jurisdiction‑specific issues that matter for high‑stakes due diligence, compliance, and strategic decision‑making. With tailored insights spanning key regions and strict confidentiality, JAM helps clients see what others overlook and act with confidence Find out more: https://www.jam-insights.com Inquirify is a global risk intelligence partner providing due diligence, OSINT, GSOC and investigative support across complex jurisdictions. Our philosophy is simple: Verify before you trust. We provide clear, actionable insights to protect your business and support growth. Find out more at Inquirify.net Subscribe & Follow Subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone in risk, compliance or investigations. The more people having these conversations, the harder these networks become to ignore.

The One Where Becky Takes on Romance Fraud

In this episode of Due Diligence Download, Sylwia and Amritha sit down with Becky Holmes, author of Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love With You, to unpack the reality behind romance fraud — one of the most emotionally manipulative and misunderstood financial crimes out there. What starts as funny (and often absurd) interactions with celebrity impersonators quickly reveals something much darker: a global, organised system of deception that blends psychology, technology, and financial crime. You’ll learn: Why romance fraud is not a victimless crime — and why victim stereotypes are dangerously wrong How Becky went from “bored in lockdown” to uncovering repeatable scam scripts, tactics, and patterns The evolution from traditional romance scams to “pig butchering” — where emotional grooming turns into large-scale investment fraud The growing role of AI in fraud, from synthetic personas to scaling deception faster than ever The uncomfortable truth about scam farms, organised crime, and links to human trafficking Where this all intersects with money laundering, mule activity, and the financial system This episode is a reminder that romance fraud isn’t just about fake relationships — it’s a gateway crime that feeds wider criminal networks and exposes serious gaps in how we detect and prevent financial crime. Author profile: Becky Holmes is an author, journalist, speaker and the creator of the popular Twitter/X account @deathtospinach, which exposes fraudsters in humorous ways. In 2020, having been on the receiving end of an annoying number of direct messages from online romance scammers, Becky started to enjoy wasting their time and publicly ‘outing’ their accounts. Six years later she is now a well-known expert on romance fraud, called upon by both professionals and the media. Her first book, Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love with You, received outstanding reviews from critics, journalists, counter-fraud professionals, comedians and everyday readers. Her second book, The Future of Fraud, which examines AI, cryptocurrency, social media and the dark web, hit the shelves in April 2026. She also sometimes writes for The Times about fraud. Becky uses humorous examples of her conversations with online fraudsters to shine a light on the darkest corners of the world of romance fraud. Examining the similarities between romance fraud and domestic abuse, she talks about coercive control and confirmation bias, gaslighting and shame. She also reveals the even lesser-known sides to this crime: human trafficking, voodoo and scammer pyramid schemes. No other woman has had so many online romances – from Keanu Reeves to Brad Pitt to Prince William and she is a firm favourite with brave US peacekeeping soldiers and oil rig workers who desperately need iTunes vouchers or Amazon gift cards. Resources & Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinnordbywest/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-rowe-95323753/ https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/feb/24/destitute-survivors-of-south-east-asias-cyberscam-farms-an-international-crisis https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr7j18edjo https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167144 Becky’s Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keanu-Reeves-Not-Love-You/dp/1789651638 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Fraud-FUTURES-Book-11-ebook/dp/B0GK2RJG9J?ref_=ast_author_dp&th=1&psc=1 Subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone in risk, compliance, or investigations and share with anyone who thinks they’d never fall for it.