Migration crisis gives fraudsters, traffickers opportunities

The ongoing migration of refugees from areas dominated by ISIS into Europe is the largest mass movement of people since World War II, according to a European Union official. United Nations figures show that 50 million people have been driven from their homes by violence in the Middle East and Africa, with Syria the hardest hit. (See Europe 'faces worst refugee crisis since Second World War', by Matthew Holehouse, The Telegraph, August 14.)

With this mass exodus, of course, comes the usual fraud: human trafficking, money laundering and exploitation. Because the crisis is still developing, I haven't been able to find any hard information on money tracing from refugees to smugglers to money launderers and then into economic systems.

However, as CFEs, we should have an interest in how we can lend our talents and skills. For example, we can't just stand by and not encourage law enforcement agencies to investigate and introduce tighter controls on the facilitators of people smuggling.

Also, the refugees have little or no money by the time they reach Europe because they've paid it to traffickers who undoubtedly are laundering it into financial systems. As CFEs, we must actively identify any possible money links to organized crime or people smugglers.

At press time, more than 3,000 migrants were crossing the Greek–Macedonian border every day, carrying their worldly possessions with them. (See UN reveals 3,000 migrants are crossing the Greek-Macedonian border EACH DAY … by Corey Charlton, Daily Mail, August 25.)

More than 23,000 refugees have drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea from war-torn countries trying to reach Europe. In their desperate plight to escape their countries and make it to Europe, immigrants are paying between £2,000 and £3,000 to human traffickers to board unseaworthy boats for the perilous crossing. (See The MASS CEMETERY of Europe … by Owen Bennett, Express, April 2.)

Thousands have used tiny rubber dinghies not designed for offshore use to reach the tiny Greek Island of Kos while many die trying to make the journey. Forty suffocated as they were locked in the hold of a trafficker's boat. (See Thousands of desperate immigrants queue … by Tom Wyke, Daily Mail, August 16.) Greece sent a car ferry to Kos to transport some 2,500 Syrian refugees to Athens.

In early September, Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, said the migration crisis was a "German problem," and Europe had a moral duty to tell migrants to stay away. (See The New York Times article, Hungary Defends Handling of Migrants Amid Chaos at Train Station, by Anemona Hartocollis, Dan Bilefsky and James Kanter, Sept. 2.)

Hungary was building a 110-mile, razor-wire fence along the border with non-EU Serbia, and is passing laws which will make illegally crossing into the country punishable by a prison sentence. (See Hungary races to build border fence as migrants keep coming, by Nick Thorpe, BBC News, August 6.)

The Daily Mail reporters spoke to one refugee who told of a payment to smugglers, in the article, Revealed: How more than 100,000 migrants found their way to Europe's shores in just one month, by Flora Drury and John Hall, August 19.

"Preparing to risk their lives crossing the Aegean Sea on board a small inflatable dinghy, Duaa, 22, said that her family hope[s] the journey will mark the moment their lives finally take a turn for the better," according to The Daily Mail article.

" ‘My husband is now talking with the man [the smuggler]. We paid him $1,200 each. ...We are scared if he takes the money and just disappears. ... Tonight at 11:00 pm we go with him.' "

"Far from striking out independently, they rely on the services of people smugglers who coordinate the enterprise, including taxi transport to the embarkation point," according to The Daily Mail article.

"Inflatable boats are ordered by the traffickers from the Turkish cities of Istanbul or Izmir and then delivered to the local bus station," according to the article.

Shops on the Bodrum peninsula, which would normally be doing a roaring trade catering to beach tourists, are now focusing on selling life vests to refugees. One souvenir shop was selling between 100 to 150 per week, according to the article.

The Daily Mail article also reports on the cost of smuggling people across the channel from Calais in France to the United Kingdom.

" ‘An Albanian network busted by police earlier this month is estimated to have made 1.4 million euros (£990,000) since February,' according to Anne-Laure Arassus, deputy head of the French police unit tasked with preventing undocumented migration. The money is thought to be laundered through nightclubs and other businesses in Britain.

"Six Albanians were arrested from the network, which is believed to have helped 255 people get into Britain at a cost of between 9,100 and 9,800 euros per person (£6,500 and £6,900 respectively).

"The organised smuggling groups get migrants on to lorries in industrial parks and motorway lay-bys before they are loaded on to Eurotunnel trains and ferries.

"The cost of reaching Britain varies depending on the community and the quality of service, from 500-700 euros (£350 - £500) for an Eritrean crossing from Calais, to 20,000 euros (£14,000) for the ‘all-inclusive' package from Vietnam, with plane tickets and lodging," Arassus said.

"Of the 19 smuggling networks dismantled so far this year, six were Albanian, three from the Middle East, two from the Horn of Africa, two Asian (from China and Vietnam), two from the Indian subcontinent and four worked for all nationalities, primarily operated by Iraqi Kurds," according to The Daily Mail article.

Criminal gangs' human trafficking had been increasing. The decomposing bodies of 71 victims — 58 men, eight women and four children, including a baby girl — were found in a refrigeration truck in Austria, according to " Hungarian police arrest driver of lorry that had 71 dead migrants inside," by Luke Harding, August 28.

Police in Hungary had arrested three people in connection with the deaths but stressed they weren't the ringleaders. The Guardian reported that Austria's interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, denounced the traffickers in a statement as criminals. "This tragedy is a concern for us all. Smugglers are criminals. They have no interest in the welfare of refugees. Only profit," Mikl-Leitner said.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held its second World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30.

"UNODC is calling for definitive and marked action to both end the impunity of traffickers, and to drastically boost the much-needed support being provided to victims," according to a statement.

The organization reports extremely low levels of action against traffickers in some areas. According to the latest Global Report, between 2010 and 2012, some 40 percent of 128 countries reported less than 10 convictions a year, while some 15 percent did not record a single conviction. "This illustrates a level of impunity which is unacceptable and highlights the fact that, at the moment, the traffickers are getting away with their crimes," said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov. "The world is facing many grave challenges, and our resources are strained. But we cannot allow unscrupulous criminals to exploit these crises and take advantage of desperation and suffering."

People smugglers are now adopting a dangerous new tactic to smuggle hundreds of people into Europe in "ghost ships." These criminals load cargo ships with refugees, set the autopilots and abandon them. Unless authorities intercept them, the vessels crash into the Italian coast or anything else in their way.

A journalist from the Daily Mail bought a passport, ID card and driving license all in the name of a real man killed in the conflict from a forger who boasted that ISIS fighters are using the documents to travel to Europe to start terror sleeper cells, according to Passport to Terror … by Nick Fagge, Sept. 17, Daily Mail.

One Daily Mail report states that two in every 100 Syrian refugees are ISIS fighters. According to the article, the Lebanese education minister warned U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron that ISIS is sending jihadists to Europe "under cover." (See Two in every 100 Syrian migrants …, by Jack Doyle, September 14.)

The European Union is struggling to develop a unified strategy to cope with this issue. Far-right protestors have attacked refugee shelters in Germany, which will host more asylum seekers than other European countries. This xenophobic behavior could spread. (See Eastern Germany ‘more susceptible' to ‘xenophobic radicalization,' DW.)

Hungary closed its borders to refugees, so thousands changed route and poured into Croatia. After 13,000 people entered Croatia, it too closed seven out of eight of its road borders. (See Migrant crisis: Croatia closes border crossings with Serbia, BBC, September 18.)

As CFEs, we can ask law enforcement agencies: Who are the individuals or what are the companies, for example, that are buying multiple inflatable boats or second-hand boats and trucks, which people smugglers need to commit their fraudulent crimes? What is the ownership trail of owners of cargo ships used as ghost ships?

European ACFE chapters can band together to work with law enforcement to investigate traffickers and those who are defrauding refugees.

The plight of so many, approximately half of whom are children, will have major consequences for Europe, which will need to provide food, shelter, education and jobs. Several European nations will need financial aid and help from us with the inevitable growth of fraud.

Tim Harvey, CFE, JP, is director of the ACFE's U.K. Operations and a member of Transparency International and the British Society of Criminology. His email address is: tharvey@ACFE.com.