Participation of financial institutions is making a difference in the battle against those involved in online child sexual exploitation
A project sponsored by Scotiabank, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and others is helping to crack down on the sexual exploitation of children.
Project Umbra was founded in 2019 by The Knoble Network, a non-profit network of financial crime and fintech professionals that assists vulnerable people around the world.
Newly-published results of the first phase of the project show an almost-sixfold increase in the number of referrals from financial institutions (FIs) to law enforcement year-over-year.
Data from the Internet Watch Foundation shows that the United States is the epicentre of online child sexual exploitation (OCSE), hosting a staggering 69% of material.
Terry Schappert, head of Financial Institution Relationships at The Knoble Network, and project co-sponsor, says that to deter the rise in OCSE material means more than just relying on individuals.
“Collaborative efforts across financial institutions, service providers, regulators, and law enforcement are vital to be fully effective in snuffing out human crimes like OCSE,” he said.
Using scalable and repeatable proprietary methodology, Project Umbra taps FIs own detection processes along with specialized OCSE training for employees.
“When applied to one bank’s portfolio, the process collaboratively developed by Project Umbra participants quickly identified 17 high-risk accounts that warranted additional review within its customer base of five million,” said Tracy Manning, director of Financial Crime at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “With specific training on online child sexual exploitation topologies, investigators reviewed the high-risk accounts, leading to 10 referrals to law enforcement. Not only did this process effectively identify real risk, but it did so while maintaining a 1.5:1 false positive rate.”
Real impact
As well as its sponsors, Project Umbra also has the support of The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the US Department of Homeland Security.
Several other FIs, government agencies, and IT-related organizations are also involved.
Scotiabank’s Stuart Davis, EVP, Financial Crimes Risk Management & Group Chief AML Officer, says the project’s strength is this breadth of knowledge.
“Project Umbra has been an important collaboration of subject matter experts leveraging their tools and knowledge to address one of the most heinous crimes against society’s most innocent and vulnerable victims,” he said. “Through shared learnings across jurisdictions, scalable solutions are being identified and driving real impact.”
More information is available at https://www.theknoble.com/umbra
