In this episode, we unpack how uncertainty, data gaps, and fragmented intelligence are creating new opportunities for financial crime, fraud, and environmental exploitation across global markets.

Joining the conversation is Emily Hsu, Financial and Environmental Crime Researcher, who explores how weak governance, limited transparency, and uneven access to information allow criminal networks to operate across borders — from illicit supply chains and environmental crime to financial fraud and organised criminal activity.

The discussion examines how criminals exploit:

• Knowledge gaps in high-risk jurisdictions
• Weak regulatory enforcement and oversight
• Complex global supply chains
• Limited data sharing between public and private sectors

We also explore why financial institutions, regulators, and compliance teams must rethink traditional risk assessments — moving beyond static checklists towards intelligence-led, context-driven analysis that reflects real-world risk.

Subscribe for more expert discussions on financial crime, fraud, corruption, sanctions, and emerging risks!

• How AI has transformed propaganda into scalable, anonymous influence campaigns
• The role of bots, click farms and astroturfed engagement
• Fake gold mining claims, deepfake world leaders and AI-generated music propaganda
• The geopolitical narratives tying Burkina Faso, Russia and anti-Western sentiment
• Why West Africa’s mineral wealth makes it a strategic disinformation battleground
• The collapse of democratic norms and the fallout from ECOWAS sanctions
• How disinformation fuels fraud, scams and financial crime risk

Alongside the release of The FinCrime Times, Themis presents a five-part podcast series uncovering the evolving world of fraud, from AI-driven deception to cross-border scam economies.

Hosted by Henry Wyard, Senior Policy Analyst at Themis, each 20-minute episode dives into one of the magazine’s feature stories, with the authors themselves joining to unpack their research, perspectives and real-world implications. In the first episode, Henry speaks with Jennifer Downie, AI and Fraud Researcher at Themis, about her article ‘Pig Butchering Investment Scams: The Victims on the Other Side of the Bitcoin.’

Jennifer discusses how these scams intertwine human trafficking, organised crime and emerging technology, revealing the disturbing human cost behind one of the fastest-growing fraud typologies in the world.