A&D Forensics participated in the Law Enforcement Cryptocurrency Investigation training held on Monday, November 27, 2023. The training was organized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in partnership with the Binance Investigation team led by Jarek Jackubek.
The Law Enforcement Crypto Investigation training aimed to offer practical assistance to Law Enforcement Agents, equipping them with the necessary and permissible steps to take while requesting Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and customer data from Binance Exchange.
Law Enforcement Agents are also trained by A&D Forensics to become Certified Cryptocurrency Investigators
A&D Forensics has been at the forefront, actively training law enforcement agents, private investigators, and compliance officers to become certified cryptocurrency investigators. The Certified Cryptocurrency Investigation Training, offered in partnership with Blockchain Intelligence Group, helps equip participants with the knowledge and skills required to competently trace and investigate cryptocurrency-related crimes. These trainings are usually conducted onsite at A&D Forensics Lab, with hands-on practical classes exposing participants to different blockchain analytical tools available at A&D Forensics Lab.
The Need To Strengthen Law Enforcement Capabilities Towards Crypto Investigation and Asset Recovery
According to Chainalysis, despite an overall decline of 77% in scams throughout 2023, impersonation scams, where fraudsters pose as law enforcement or authority figures, have only seen a 23% reduction in inflows. Alarmingly, the number of individual transfers to impersonation scam addresses has increased by 49% year over year. This indicates that while the total amount lost to impersonation scams is lower, the number of victims has risen, emphasizing the ongoing threat and the need for vigilance by law enforcement and crypto compliance teams.
The Certified Cryptocurrency Investigation Training is not exclusive to Law Enforcement Agents alone; it is open to private investigators, fraud examiners, compliance officers, and financial fraud fighters. However, law enforcement agents are exclusively involved and tasked with the recovery process, requiring them to send subpoenas to compliant cryptocurrency exchanges to obtain the PII of suspects.
For this reason, Law Enforcement Agents require further training on how to effectively navigate the entire recovery process. It is with this knowledge that the Binance Investigation Team and the EFCC held the Law Enforcement Crypto Investigation Training to offer practical assistance to Law Enforcement Agents already involved in crypto investigation and recovery tasks.
About the Concluded Law Enforcement Cryptocurrency Investigation Training
The Law Enforcement Crypto Investigation Training, held at EFCC Zonal Headquarters Karu, Abuja, was well-attended by participants from the EFCC from different zonal commands, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This ensured the presence of relevant authorities.
During the training led by Jarek Jackubek, participants were introduced to the Binance Exchange Trading Platform, emphasizing that Binance voluntarily complies with Law Enforcement Requests.
Moving forward, the training participants were exposed to the Kodex platform, enabling law enforcement agents and governments to request data from centralized cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance. This process can also be followed by law enforcement agents to request for accounts to be frozen within the exchange during investigations.
In addition, the participants had an opportunity to learn about the unique identifiers queried by Binance Exchange and the details of data provided to Law Enforcement Agents after a proper request is made to them. They were also privileged to engage in practical exercises and case studies, including a sextortion case, payment slip fraud, pig butchering seizure, and transaction monitoring instances.
Lastly, our senior partner at A&D Forensics, Adedeji Owonibi, assisted in answering questions and shedding more light on local case studies inherent to Nigeria, which helped the participants solidify their learnings.
The Law Enforcement Crypto Investigation Training Ended with a Certification Ceremony and Recognized A&D Forensics’ Commitment to Crypto Investigation Excellence
The Law Enforcement Crypto Investigation Training concluded with a presentation of certificates to participants. A&D Forensics’ investigation team, duly represented by our Blockchain Forensics Specialist, Chioma Onyekelu, CCI, also received a certificate for participating in the training.
Hence, looking ahead, the Certified Cryptocurrency Investigation Training For Law Enforcements at A&D Forensics Lab will include step-by-step details on how to properly send data requests to Binance and any other centralized cryptocurrency exchange after a successful crypto investigation.
Conclusion
A&D Forensics is committed to training law enforcement agents, compliance officers, and financial fraud fighters to become competent Cryptocurrency Investigators and Crypto Compliance Officers. We have actively engaged in collaborations with government agencies to ensure that Nigeria has smart regulations guiding the use of Virtual Assets in the country.
Lastly, we offer corporate training to financial institutions and entities on Cryptocurrency Compliance. If you are ready to upskill your team into becoming competent Crypto Compliance Specialists, send us a message immediately here:https://adforensics.com.ng/3cs/
