In this episode of Integrity Insights, Filip is joined by Jan Indra, a threat intelligence specialist with a decade of experience in financial crime prevention. Jan began his career as an investigative journalist, later moved into consultancy and long-term due diligence projects, and now focuses on researching the ecosystem that enables fraud to flourish.

The conversation dives deep into how fraudsters operate today and why understanding their infrastructure — not just individual cases — is crucial for prevention.

Key themes discussed:

• The evolution of financial crime tactics
  Fraud doesn’t happen in isolation. Jan explains how fraudulent documents, fake identities, and suspicious transactions are all interlinked, often forming part of wider, industrialised schemes.
• Template farms
  Jan describes how websites and Telegram channels openly sell editable templates of bank statements, IDs, utility bills, pay slips, invoices, and even death certificates. These “farms” are easy to find with a simple Google search, often optimized with SEO to reach the widest audience. He explains the different formats offered (PDFs, PSDs, generators that batch-produce fake documents), and the scale — hundreds of thousands of fraudulent templates in circulation.
• Account farms
  Beyond fake documents, entire verified accounts are now being sold — from bank and fintech logins to crypto exchange profiles and remittance service accounts. This trend shows how quickly fraud enablers adapt, and why institutions need to anticipate emerging threats.
• Success rates and risks
  Not all fake documents succeed in slipping through controls, but even a small percentage poses huge problems at scale. Jan discusses how quality of the fake, institutional risk appetite, and the robustness of KYC processes determine outcomes. Some institutions may see 5% fraudulent submissions; others up to 20%, with major operational and financial consequences.
• Geographies and actors
  While much of the infrastructure is anonymised and globally distributed, Jan outlines investigative clues about where some operators may be based, their backgrounds, and how underground economies of fraud overlap with mainstream online spaces.
• Why institutions should care
  Beyond regulatory compliance, fraud enabled by weak KYC systems carries heavy reputational risk, potential for serious financial losses, and operational disruption when organised groups exploit vulnerabilities at scale.
• The role of threat intelligence
  For Jan, threat intelligence means systematically researching fraud enablers, understanding their modus operandi, and mapping the ecosystem. This knowledge is the first step toward prevention — ensuring organisations aren’t always several steps behind the attackers.

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