The most essential capability for future-facing fraud teams isn't technology—it's mindset. Teams must be proactive and purposeful, actively hunting for threats rather than simply reviewing alerts in a queue. This requires stepping back to cut through noise, spot patterns, and understand the enablers driving criminal activity.
The best teams demonstrate genuine curiosity and determination to find fraud and crime, whilst the most effective boards focus on outcomes: what happened, why it happened, and what can be learnt from it.
Success begins with professionally cynical investigators who question everything they encounter. As Kevin Newe (Assistant Director - Head of Illicit Finance Threats at HMRC) observes, there's a reason particular cases land on their desks, and true professionalism means not being satisfied until every suspicion has been thoroughly investigated.
Even with advanced technological capabilities, successful investigations still require investigator-led activity. Technology should work alongside the boots on the ground; whether through surveillance, covert monitoring, or background financial inquiries. There will always be a need for a standing army of financially-focused investigators, capable of following the golden thread.
No single team possesses the capacity to identify threats in isolation. Effective capability requires truly blended skill sets, bringing together specialists from fraud, anti-money laundering, sanctions, cyber security, and legal functions alongside AI specialists where appropriate.
Crucially, these technical experts must work alongside people who deeply understand the business - customer journeys, products, and markets. This combination of technical expertise and business knowledge enables teams to identify both threats and vulnerabilities whilst focusing on the enabling factors that make mitigation possible.
Whilst mindset provides the foundation, technology serves as the essential force multiplier. AI-powered tools can surface insights that humans alone would never uncover: detecting risk in transactions, organisations, images, and even voice data at scale.
Advanced capabilities in network entity resolution provide trusted single views of organisations, which is critical when fraudsters themselves employ sophisticated technology. To stay ahead of criminal innovation, organisations must match their technological capabilities.
However, adoption must be measured and responsible. In criminal investigations, particular care is required regarding how AI is used. Issues around model bias, disproportionate impacts on certain communities, and potential disclosure failures in trials mean law enforcement cannot adopt AI with the same abandon as criminals. One failed trial due to AI misuse could fatally undermine future implementation.
The future demands a more holistic relationship between public and private sectors; moving beyond traditional partnerships towards genuine hybrid cooperation. Whilst public-private partnerships have achieved success, there's a sense that current approaches sometimes only catch those "there to be caught."
Tackling professional money laundering networks and hostile state actors requires a different level of cooperation and coordination, with much greater data exposure flowing in both directions. Law enforcement must be prepared to share intelligence in return for what they receive - an approach the National Economic Crime Centre has successfully integrated into recent data fusion initiatives.
For many public sector organisations, the challenge isn't recognising what's needed; it's securing the resources to implement it. Without substantial teams or budgets, organisations must find alternative approaches: shared services, collaborative arrangements, or accessing capabilities elsewhere.
The reality is stark: not all tools are available to everyone. Ironically, criminals often have access to more sophisticated capabilities than those tasked with stopping them.
For counter fraud professionals, the path forward follows a clear sequence:
Success requires starting with culture, moving to mindset, and only then acquiring the tools to implement effective procedures. Each stage builds upon the last, creating sustainable capability to counter evolving threats.