Fraud is often discussed in terms of losses, alerts and chargebacks. Human trafficking is discussed as a humanitarian tragedy. In our latest Fusion Fireside, Neil Giles makes it painfully clear why this separation no longer works, and why fraud, scams and human trafficking are closely linked.

Neil Giles is the President of the Traffik Analysis Hub (TAHub) and serves as the Global Intelligence Ambassador at STOP THE TRAFFIK. He is a prominent expert in combating human trafficking, leveraging a 36-year background in UK law enforcement, including New Scotland Yard and SOCA.

His insight sits exactly at the intersection of fraud, finance, mobile channels and organised crime, leading to thought-provoking interview with confronting stories, numbers and research.

 

 

Insights from the Fireside

  • Fraud is the engine behind exploitation: Scams, romance fraud and fake crypto investments are not just digital crimes: Many are operated by trafficked individuals forced to run scams via mobile phones, messaging apps and social platforms. Fraud fuels the market that keeps trafficking alive.
  • Mobile and digital channels are the criminals’ backbone: Gift cards, crypto wallets, payment apps and online banking make money movement fast, scalable and harder to see. Criminals adapt to new mobile channels far quicker than controls are implemented.
  • There are victims on both sides of the scam: One victim loses money. Another is forced to steal it. Thousands of people are trafficked into industrial “scam centres”, working under threat and violence to target victims in Europe, the US and beyond.
  • Tunnel vision weakens our defences: Fraud teams, AML teams, banks, law enforcement and tech platforms all operate in silos. We all look at the problem through our own lens. That’s a benefit, but it’s also a huge risk. Offboarding accounts or ticking compliance boxes often just moves the problem elsewhere, without reducing harm to human beings. All we’re doing at the moment is playing whack‑a‑mole. As fast as we respond, the threat has already moved on.
  • Prevention starts with understanding behaviour, not just transactions: Neil stresses the importance of learning from victim stories, spotting behavioural patterns across mobile channels, and understanding the criminals’ underlying business model and how it can be disrupted faster.

Final Thoughts

Neil’s closing message is clear: This problem will not be solved by one sector, one regulator, or one technology. Banks, law enforcement, tech platforms, job sites, social networks, regulators, and governments all sit somewhere in the recruitment, exploitation, payment, or laundering chain. The only way forward is to break tunnel vision, share what we know faster, and focus as much on prevention as detection.

Because stopping fraud is not just about protecting money or maintaining brand trust: It is about stopping exploitation before it starts.

 

Explore previous episodes:
https://www.threatfabric.com/fusion-fireside



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