The Executive Vice Chirman / CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has underscored the significance of applying ICT in tackling the scourge of Financial crimes in the system.
Dr. Maida made the call recently in his presentation at the 11th Anniversary Lecture Series of RealNews Magazine in Lagos.
He defined financial crime as criminal activities that involve transactions, abuse, misuse, deception, or manipulation of financial systems for personal gain.
“They include a wide range of offenses such as Insider abuse, Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, Proliferation Financing, embezzlement, Fraud (E-fraud, Banking, securities, corporate, Intellectual Property) etc.
“These crimes do not only have a huge economic and social impact but can also be linked to violent crimes that lead to loss of lives.
“These crimes threaten the integrity, trustworthiness, stability, security, safety, and future of an entity (Country, enterprise, individual).” He said.
According to the NCC boss the scope of financial crimes have increased and created future worries owing to increasing adoption of digital technologies, the emergence of new technologies, and the often-transnational nature of these crimes.
He posited that robust information and communication technology (ICT) systems are critical for preventing/investigating financial crimes and mitigating the risks associated with virtual assets in financial markets.
In his words, “These systems facilitate compliance with established standards or regulations, they also provide a platform that allows the monitoring, tracing, and analyzing of digital transactions in real-time.
“ICT systems support secure data storage and encryption technologies, which are critical for safeguarding sensitive financial data.
“Technological advancements have significantly aided crime prevention and law enforcement agency performance.
“Large datasets have been analyzed using advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms to look for trends that indicate criminal activity.
“Based on historical data and real-time intelligence, predictive police programs have arisen to foresee and prevent crimes. Digital forensics techniques have also proven useful in criminal investigations.
“Historically, a variety of legacy technologies have been used to combat crime; however, in more recent times, novel computer softwares and hardwares are being utilized to monitor individual transactions and communications for suspicious activity.
“For instance, anti-money laundering (AML) software uses algorithms to detect anomalous patterns in financial transactions that could suggest money laundering or other illegal activity.
“Law enforcement agencies are increasingly employing communication monitoring softwares to follow and analyze digital communications…
“Such as emails, social media interactions, and instant messaging, in order to discover potential threats or illegal behaviour. These technologies improve the ability to detect and prevent illegal digital activity.”
According to the erudite scholar, telecoms sector has grown significantly, resulting in massive amounts of data being generated on a daily basis.
“The advent of advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) provides a gateway to identify suspicious digital patterns indicative of crime.
Through partnerships with financial institutions data can be filtered to identify these suspicious patterns and nip them in the bud.
“These technologies provide real-time transaction monitoring, allowing for a proactive approach to crime prevention.” He added.
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