In this episode of Integrity Insights, Filip is joined by Daniel Shkedi, Head of Product Marketing and Strategy at Refine Intelligence, a fraud prevention company. He is also a fraud and threat intelligence researcher specializing in cybercriminal activity on the dark web and Telegram. His publications cover a wide range of topics, including online fraud prevention (in banking, eCommerce, and payments), identity validation, emerging threats in underground forums, and AI-driven fraud and eCrime.

The conversation dives deep into the emerging field of Money Laundering as a Service (MLAS) and how cybercriminals are adapting their operations. Daniel provides insights into his research, the typologies of money laundering services offered on the dark web, and why financial institutions need to pay attention to this growing threat.

Key themes discussed:

Money Laundering as a Service (MLAS)
Daniel describes his recent project, where he mapped out how organized criminal groups provide money laundering services to fraudsters on platforms like Telegram and the dark web. This “business” mirrors legitimate financial services in sophistication and scale, making it a rapidly growing problem for financial institutions.

Typologies of Money Laundering
Through his research, Daniel identified several key typologies of money laundering services, including:

• Bank Drops: Rented or sold bank accounts used for cash-out services.
• Bank Loaders: Criminals who move funds onward to bank drop accounts.
• End-to-End Money Laundering Services: Criminal enterprises offering full money laundering packages, including layering and integration.
• Shell Companies and Insider Services: Fraudsters offering to set up fake companies or bank insiders selling stolen financial data.
• Street-Level Cash Outs: Basic services where criminals withdraw funds using stolen or fraudulently obtained bank accounts.

Global Scope of Money Laundering
Daniel shares his findings on how these services are not limited to a single region, but are a global phenomenon. The services are available across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific, with different nuances depending on the jurisdiction.

Why Institutions Should Care
Beyond regulatory compliance, Daniel emphasizes that money laundering and fraud expose financial institutions to serious reputational risks, financial losses, and operational disruptions. Criminal enterprises are evolving, and financial institutions must adapt by building proactive threat intelligence programs.

The Role of Threat Intelligence
Daniel outlines how threat intelligence plays a pivotal role in understanding fraud enablers, monitoring their infrastructure, and predicting where future attacks might come from. By gathering data from multiple sources, including the dark web and Telegram, financial institutions can develop comprehensive threat intelligence strategies to stay ahead of cybercriminals.

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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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In this episode of Integrity Insights, we speak with Casey Michel, investigative journalist and Head of the Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation in New York City. Casey is the author of American Kleptocracy and Foreign Agents, two seminal books on the mechanisms of global illicit finance and foreign influence operations.

Our discussion focuses on the United States’ recent retreat from its longstanding leadership in global anti-corruption efforts. Casey explains how key legislative tools, such as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), are no longer being meaningfully enforced—despite being landmark steps in combating financial secrecy and foreign bribery just a few years ago.

We explore:

• Why the U.S. became the world’s biggest hub for illicit finance.
• How lobbying efforts and state-level interests undermined the CTA.
• The implications of the Department of Justice’s recent decision to narrow FCPA enforcement to matters of "U.S. strategic interest".
• Concerns that enforcement tools are being politicised, potentially weaponised against foreign or domestic political opponents.
• How these rollbacks have severely damaged U.S. credibility and leadership in global anti-corruption efforts.

Casey also places this regression in historical context, suggesting we may be in a modern “Gilded Age” but offers hope by pointing to past cycles of reform following periods of entrenched corruption.

Finally, we ask: can anyone step into the void left by the U.S.? While no single actor currently matches the scope of American enforcement powers, Casey sees signs of renewed leadership from Europe—particularly in the UK, France, and Switzerland—and stresses the need for greater transnational coordination going forward.

Listen to this episode for a deep dive into the shifting landscape of anti-corruption enforcement and what it means for democracies around the world.

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