Planning digital forensics and investigations must include elements of taking legal and investigative actions across different jurisdictions and borders. Investigating digital financial crimes, such as digital frauds, requires consideration of local and international regulatory requirements, especially when a digital financial crime involves cross-border transactions and criminals from different jurisdictions.
The international level frauds cause significant harm to organizations and even the country. Various professionals, experts, and experienced criminals usually combine in international frauds, making it difficult for the fraud examiner to get to the root cause and real fraudsters rightly.
Every country and jurisdiction has different laws and regulations, which must be complied with by the people and citizens. For international-level frauds, the authorities of relevant countries should collaborate and identify the digital fraud trial to identify real culprits.
An example may be where the money launderers transfer their black money from one country to another to support criminals in different jurisdictions. This happens with the involvement of the professionals working in the organization, which combine with the money launderers to provide them access to the organization’s financial system, such as banks.
The planning process covers various important elements such as suspect interviews, seeking legal advice, taking legal actions, and police referrals to investigate the fraud case.
Setting the Overall Objectives of the Digital Forensics and Investigations
The fraud investigation process must be planned so that its objectives are clear in the mind of the fraud investigation team and experts.
The objective of any fraud investigation is to identify the real culprits and recover amounts embezzled by the criminals or fraudsters as soon as possible. Therefore, it becomes crucial for the investigation team to appropriately plan and set the overall objectives of the investigation process.
Reporting Lines and the Investigation Team
The fraud investigation team comprises experts with qualifications and relevant experience in investigating the fraud cases allotted to them for investigation. Usually, a company develops an in-house fraud investigation department headed by a dedicated fraud investigation and reporting head. Senior management of the company provides the head of fraud with the right number of resources and authority to initiate and investigate fraud allegations and reported cases at any level.
The fraud investigation team reports to the head of the fraud department. It performs the fieldwork, including fraud-related interviews, on-site and off-site monitoring, third-party evidence gathering, etc.
The head of the fraud department reports to the company’s Chief Executive Officer and presents all the significant fraud cases to the chief. The significant cases are reported through the internal audit department to the Board Audit Committee or BAC for its review and necessary instructions.
Final Thoughts
Digital forensics is a branch of forensic science that involves the recovery and investigation of digital evidence from electronic devices, such as computers, smartphones, and other digital storage media. The primary goal of digital forensics is to uncover and analyze digital evidence that can be used in legal proceedings or other types of investigations.
Digital investigations are typically conducted by trained professionals, such as digital forensic analysts or computer crime investigators, who use specialized tools and techniques to extract and analyze data from electronic devices. The process of digital forensics involves a number of steps, including data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Digital forensics is used in a variety of contexts, including criminal investigations, civil litigation, and corporate investigations. It is also used by law enforcement agencies to investigate cybercrime, such as hacking, cyber espionage, and online fraud. Overall, digital forensics is an important tool for investigators and law enforcement agencies, as it can provide valuable evidence in a variety of legal and investigative contexts. However, it is important to follow strict protocols and procedures to ensure that the evidence is admissible in court and that the integrity of the investigation is maintained.
