Fear Factor

The ACAMS Today magazine is a quarterly publication for career-minded professionals in the financial crime detection and prevention fields and it is an exclusive benefit for ACAMS members. The ACAMS Today is dedicated to keeping members up to date on the latest anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing challenges, legislative, regulatory and international developments in financial crime prevention and practical solutions to compliance problems.
This piece was inspired by the current climate, the cover story and how the effects of 2020 have continued through 2021, especially the feeling of fear that has been manifested globally due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Extending to this fear is the rampant opportunity for criminals to exploit a crisis and take advantage of many through multiple types of COVID-19 fraud. The pandemic has, unfortunately, given criminals another avenue to diversify their criminal activities with not much overwatch. However, anti-financial crime professionals are on the front lines and are working to thwart the criminals by learning daily how the criminals are exploiting COVID-19 for their nefarious purposes and by creating more stringent compliance programs. Finally, I do believe that once you face a fear and gather knowledge, your fear will dissipate to a certain extent.