UPCOMING EVENTS
Register to attend NI Fraud Forum Conference 2024:
Also invited to speak are representatives of Cifas, CMA, Crimestoppers and the Chairman of the UK Fraud Forums (Robert Brooker)
Annual NI Fraud Forum Conference 2024
Thursday 21 November 2024
Registration: 08:30
Hilton Hotel, 4 Lanyon Place, Belfast, BT1 3LP
Draft Conference Programme (subject to change)
Conference Speakers (subject to change)
Karen has a distinguished 30-year policing career, retiring as Commander from the City of London Police in 2020. She commenced her service as an officer in Northern Ireland and has extensive experience across a wide range of complex investigations including, safeguarding, homicide, counter-terrorism, serious and organised crime. As a result, she has a strong understanding of the unique needs of communities living in Northern Ireland.
More recently as Commander and National Coordinator for Economic Crime, she had oversight for the most serious financial investigations in the United Kingdom. Karen was also the Police executive lead for Cyber Crime Prevention working with key stakeholders and the third sector to address emerging risks in the online space.
In 2020 Karen joined UK Finance as the Managing Director for Intelligence Strategy working across the banking sector to review the use and management of intelligence. More broadly her role involved multiple sector engagement in respect of the online harms threat and proposed legislative changes. Karen stepped down from this role in November 2021.
In September 2022 Karen joined the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as Director of Strategy, Policy, International and Intelligence in the Enforcement Team. In this role, Karen leads the specialised functions that support the breadth of the FCA’s enforcement and market oversight activities, helping ensure it has the tools it needs to do its work effectively.
Karen Baxter joined the Ofcom Board on 28 March 2022.
Linda started her career as a commercial litigator in an international law firm in Edinburgh and joined the UK civil service in 2007. Since then, she has had a range of interesting and challenging roles, including Private Secretary to the First Minister of Scotland; Head of Civil Asset Forfeiture for Scotland; Deputy Director of Defence, Security and Cyber Resilience and Senior Responsible Officer for EU Exit in the Department of Justice at Stormont, Northern Ireland.
Linda joined HMRC in April 2020 and is based in Belfast. She originally led HMRC’s efforts on Offshore, Corporate and Wealth, managing civil and criminal investigations into wealthy individuals and large corporates, but since September 2022 she has been Head of Organised Crime at HMRC.
Linda specialises in all elements of economic crime and she is the corporate lead for the FIS relationship with the prosecutorial agencies in the UK, including the Crown Prosecution Service. She also leads on security issues in Northern Ireland.
Her primary interest is in demonstrably tackling Organised Crime Groups committing economic crime and weakening their ability to cause harm to our communities, by ensuring greater use of our illicit finance and covert powers to have the most impact.
Detective Superintendent Oliver Little leads the national coordination of the policing response to economic crime within City of London police, the National Lead Force. He has been working in economic crime for 15 years across several key leadership roles in Cyber and Fraud operations, industry-funded units, NFIB and most recently on secondment to the National Economic Crime Centre where he led a series of intensification campaigns targeting fraud and money laundering. Oliver is also an experienced hostage and crisis negotiator.
Sean McNabb is currently a Director in the Cartels team at the CMA. His background is as a fraud investigator and he has been involved in cartel enforcement for over 20 years. He has worked on a number of successful criminal and civil cartel investigations involving a diverse range of industries. This includes investigations involving airlines, estate agents, furniture products, commercial vehicles and various sectors of the construction industry, including leading the largest ever cartel investigation in the UK which resulted in fines totalling £63.6million.
Register to attend NI Fraud Forum Conference 2024:
PREVIOUS EVENTS
Masterclass - Wednesday 4th September @ 8:30am
Breakfast Masterclass – Wednesday 4th September from 8:30am
Sustainability Fraud & Greenwashing – can you believe what companies claim about their sustainability credentials?
Venue – KPMG Offices – The Soloist Building, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast BT1 3LP
Time – 08:30 – 10:30am
The business environment is increasingly competitive and corporate accountability is becoming more complex. Earlier this year the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) secured commitments from ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda to use only accurate and clear green claims. The FCA introduced a new anti-greenwashing rule that all FCA-authorised firms need to have met by 31 May 2024.
Program:
08:30 – 09.00 Welcome breakfast & networking
09:00 – 09:10 Introduction & welcome from NI Fraud Forum Chair, Bill McCluggage
09:10 – 09:40 Russell Smyth, Head of Sustainable Futures, KPMG – Sustainability Disclosure Requirements: An introduction
09:40 – 10:10 Mike Coates, Assistant Director Consumer Protection, Competition & Markets Authority – Tackling Misleading Green Claims
10:10 – 10:30 KPMG Forensics – Investigations into Allegations of Greenwashing
10:30 – 11:00 Close & Networking
NI Fraud Forum Debate Night - 30th May 2024
‘GenAI – a major fraud enabler or a powerful tool to combat fraud?’
Join us for a stimulating, challenging & fun evening debate.
Starts at 6:30pm with drinks and lite bites.
Early registration encouraged as places are limited
Kindly sponsored by Harod Associates
2023 Conference
Speaker Details
Mark Courtney – Chief Product Officer – Cifas
In his role at Cifas, Mark is responsible for innovation across both new and existing services, as well as overseeing the execution and roll-out of innovative new products. Mark has a wealth of expertise in fraud, identity verification and identity assurance, having worked globally across multiple sectors for over 20 years in this space.
During his career, he spent 16 years at GBG, where he led the product management team for its identity verification suite, managing the launch of the industry’s first truly electronic identity verification (EIDV) service in 2004. He went on to become General Manager, running both the Identity Verification and Identity Assurance divisions. Before joining Cifas, Mark held the position of Head of Product and Engineering for TruNarrative, playing a key role in positioning the start-up organisation to gain a significant presence in the industry.
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Wilson – Head of Economic Crime Unit PSNI
DCI Ian Wilson is Head of the PSNI Economic Crime Unit (ECU). It was formed ito help protect the community from the effects of fraud and other financial crime. To that end, the ECU have Detectives trained specifically in fraud investigation; and Financial Investigators, who follow the money, restrain and confiscate criminal property.
The ECU are located at Strandtown PSNI and have a number of hubs across the Province. The ECU team are seen as the ‘experts on fraud’ within the PSNI and they provide advice and guidance across the Service. ECU work closely with other Law Enforcement and partner agencies throughout the UK and Ireland in the fight against fraud.
Dr Ruth McAlister – Head of Research, Intelligence & Training – Harod Associates
Ruth is Head of Research and Intelligence at Harod Associates, a leading global investigation and intelligence company, and an Associate Lecturer in Criminology at Ulster University. She specialises in cybercrime offending, victimisation and the policing of cyberspace, primarily through utilising web scraping, open source intelligence techniques and social network analysis. Her two central research interests are online recruitment on classified and recruitment websites for the purposes of human trafficking, and offender networking on child abuse forums.
In her investigative and intelligence work she digitally profiles individuals, connecting them to addresses, websites, companies and other key players, establishing patterns of life to aid criminal and civil investigations nationally and internationally.
Jude McCorry – CEO – Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland
Jude McCorry is the CEO of the Cyber and Fraud Centre. Jude has over 20 years experience in the Technology sector and started her career with Dell computers in Ireland, she joined the Cyber and Fraud Centre in April 2020 from The Data Lab where she was Director of Business Development working with industry and academia to maximise the value of data for Scotland. She is one of the founders of the UNICEF Data Hub for Children, she also sits on the board of the Edinburgh Data Driven Innovation Hub at Edinburgh University.
Jude is very passionate about data for good and also inspiring the next generation into Cyber and technology – particularly looking at female participation.
William Taafee – Co-Founder & COO – Lockdown Cyber Security
William is the Co-Founder and COO of Lockdown Cyber Security, who sees Cyber Security through the eyes of a finance professional. He has a passion for Cyber Security and is an accomplished presenter. He has had an interest in Cyber Security since his early teens.
William has spoken on behalf of major Retail banks, the Dental Associayion, BMA, BMF and is a regular contributor on cyber-related fraud issues within the UK counter-fraud sector. He has also been published and featured in industry magazines and national newspapers on the topic of Digital Risk.
William has worked with a variety of SME and Enterpriose-level organisations, delivering bespoke training around Cyber Security and data protection, and advising on holistic Cyber Security to help organisations better layer their Cyber resilience.
Bimpe Archer – Ofcom
Bimpe Archer is Ofcom’s Northern Ireland’s Online Safety and Media Literacy lead. She will be explaining the Online Safety Act 2023 and Ofcom’s role as the ‘Regulator’. She joined the regulator when the role was created in January 2022, following two decades working as a journalist. Following early days freelancing in the former CityBeat radio station and Belfast Telegraph and a stint in the Carrick Times, she joined the Irish News where she was a senior news reporter, duty news editor and columnist.
Lynn Cooper – Registrar of Companies Northern Ireland
Lynn is the Registrar of Companies for Northern Northern Ireland and is also responsible for the implementation of the Economic Crime and Corprate Transparency Act 2023 that has just received Royal Assent.
Wayne Denner – Speaker, Author & Trainer
Wayne has spent over 21 years in the digital space using social media, smart phone tech and the internet. He is a regular speaker in primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in Ireland, the UK, US and UAE. He is a recognised expert on online reputation, online safety and protection, wellbeing and employability, and how to avoid online scams. With over two decades of experience working with large and small scale businesses, charitable, voluntary, statutory and community organisations, Wayne shares his extensive knowledge to help protect online reputation and provides training on how to prevent cyber crime. He also helps parent and carers understand the risks they face and how to protect young people. He has published The Essential Guide To Online Reputation, a number of very useful flyers for students, parents, teachers and businesses, and his web site is a goldmine of great online tips, videos, blogs and posts.
Patrick Keown – Fraud Operations Manager – Danske Bank
Damien Doherty – Chief Inspector – Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service
Damien Doherty took over the position of the Chief Inspector for the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service (TSSNI) in 2017, following a 15 year career in Trading Standards and the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Damien is a keen advocate of the trading standards profession and consumer rights. Damien is a regular media contributor on TV and radio, commentating on many areas of rogue trading including scams, doorstep crime, car crime and intellectual property crime. His further areas of interest include consumer credit, travel law and consumer advice. Since taking over as the Head of TSSNI, Damien has led the restructuring of the organisation through a period of cutbacks, Brexit and the COVID pandemic. He is an active member of various panels including the NI Organised Crime Taskforce, Business Crime Partnership, ScamwiseNI, the NI Market Surveillance Network and the operational Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP) group, where he continues to contribute to the development of policy in regulation and consumer protection.
2022 Conference
PREVIOUS EVENTS
NI FRAUD FORUM MASTERCLASS - 19 JUNE 2023
Where: Microsoft Offices, City Quays 3, Belfast BT1 3EE
Date: 19 June 2023
Time: 08:30 to 10:00
Speakers:
Lynn Cooper & Patrick Gilligan – ‘When Being Number One Isn’t Good’
Lynn is the Registrar of Companies for Northern Ireland and Patrick Gilligan is currently Head of the Intelligence and Enforcement Team at Companies House in Belfast. Patrick will be stepping into the role of Head of Operations while Lynn takes on the role of delivering implementation the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill across Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will provide greater powers to Companies House.
Stuart Gunning
With over 30 years experience delivering enterprise scale solutions in the public and private sectors, Stuart has recently joined Analytics Stuart as their Strategic Accounts Director. Analytics Engines is based in Chlorine Gardens in Belfast and comprise a team of experienced Data Scientists and Engineers. Before joining Analytics Engines, Stuart was Interim MD Equiniti ICS in Belfast, Equiniti’s practice lead for digital transformation and has held the roles of CEO for Vision eBusiness and Regional Director at Northgate Managed Services, part of the CAPITA group of companies.
Karl Heinz Krug CFA
Karl is Industry Advisor Public Finance at Microsoft Westertn Europe. Based in Frankfurt, Germany Karl has deep expertise in public finance as well as in insurance finance and regulation. He is a regular speaker and blogger on public finance related topics and supports startup companies with GovTech, RegTech, FinTech and Venture Capital.
The Masterclass starts at 08:30 with Tea/Coffee/Breakfast Rolls & Pastries with talks starting at 09:00.
Space at this prestigious location is limited so please register by sending your name, organisation/company and contact details by email to:
events@nifraudforum.co.uk
Location:
Microsoft Belfast
10th Floor
City Quays 3
92 Donegall Quay
BELFAST
BT1 3FE
Car Parking:
There are 2 car parks in close proximity to the building – the NCP City Quays Multi-Storey and the Belfast City Council Tom St surface car park.
Walking:
CQ3 can be accessed via the Riverside walkway, Corpration Square and Clarendon Road
EVENTS IN 2022
When
Tuesday, 15th November 2022
Location
Hilton Hotel, 4 Lanyon Place, Belfast BT1 3LP
Speaker Details
We had some excellent speakers and exibitors who are well known in their individual fields.
Keynote Speaker
Emma Luxton – Head of Proceeds of Crime and International Assistance at the Serious Fraud Office
Emma is Head of Proceeds of Crime and International Assistance at the Serious Fraud Office and has prosecuted several high-profile fraud and bribery cases including Smith & Ouzman that saw the first post-trial conviction for a corporate for overseas bribery and led to a novel compensation arrangement with the victim state.
Emma co-drafted the CPS and SFO’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement Code of Practice that sits alongside the DPA legislation. She secured the UK’s second DPA, Sarclad Ltd and then the sixth DPA, Guralp Ltd. Emma has worked with the OECD Working Group on Bribery including drafting the UK contribution to the 2019 study “Resolving foreign bribery cases with non-trial resolutions” and has recently edited the SFO DPA guidance recently published.
Emma’s keynote covered a brief history of the Serious Fraud Office and its purpose, the organisation’s work and their operation of the Roskill model involving investigators and prosecutors working together. She also covered recent successes in 2022, partners and examples of working with the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland, and the current fraud landscape and priorities for UK HMG and the SFO.
Conference Speakers
Mike Haley – CEO, Cifas
Since being appointed Chief Executive at Cifas in May 2018, Mike has actively worked to grow the community of stakeholders sharing data, intelligence and insight in the pursuit of preventing fraud and financial crime. Mike is passionate about Cifas becoming the driving force behind fraud prevention in the UK and with over 30 years’ experience of tackling and preventing fraud across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, he is determined to bring together a strong cross-sectoral collaborative approach to tackling fraud. With a Master’s Degree in Criminology, Mike has led counter fraud efforts in the National Health Service, Ministry of Defence, Office of Fair Trading, HM Revenue and Customs and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He also worked at the National Fraud Authority directing cross sector fraud prevention strategies. Mike believes that the battle against fraud is one that cannot be won alone and that only by collaborating as a community can turn the tide on fraud and not only protect each other but also make the UK a safer place to live and do business.
Robert Brooker – Chair of the London Fraud Forum and Head of Fraud & Forensics at PKF
Robert delivers risk-based strategic fraud awareness, prevention and investigation services to a range of listed and private businesses and to the public sector. A leading figure with more than 20 years’ experience, Robert specialises in the prevention and detection of loss, and the investigation of crime including online fraud, security breaches, cybercrime, IP and the insider threat. His investigations have resulted in regulatory sanctions and criminal, disciplinary and recovery actions. Prior to joining PKF, Robert was Head of Fraud at Transport for London where he managed a team of investigators, prevention staff and data analysts to support the authority’s risk and assurance strategy. He has extensive international fraud investigation experience and has worked across the globe. Robert is the Chair of the London Fraud Forum, a public-private partnership dedicated to the prevention and investigation of fraud.
Art Mitchells-Urwin – Public Sector Fraud Authority, Cabinet Office
Art is the Counter-fraud Business Development and Operations Manager in the recently formed Public Sector Fraud Authority in the Cabinet Office. He leads the strategic direction of the Cabinet Office’s Digital Economy Team’s counter-fraud work. His focus in on using cross-government research and stakeholder engagement to initiate innovative data sharing pilots. He works with departments and public bodies to strengthen their anti-fraud defences and fraud responses and utilises. He is also the founder of Proofed By Art .
Kevin Newe – Assistant Director, Illicit Finance Threat Lead, HMRC
Kevin is responsible for HMRC’s Illicit Finance Strategy that is designed to identify and tackle the priority threats faced by HMRC. He works closely with the Home Office and other domestic and international partners across both the public and private sectors to identify opportunities to share both knowledge and expertise in order to develop more resilient financial, regulatory and operational systems. He uses a blend of Promote, Prevent and Respond to reduce the threat of Illicit Finance and the read accross to HMRC’s responsibilities as an anti-money laundering supervisory body. He previously worked at the Serious Organised Crime Agency on their Proceeds of Crime policy and he extensive knowledge of the Economic Crime Plan 2.0.
Matthew Howse – Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Matthew heads up the Eversheds Sutherland Belfast Dispute Resolution and Litigation team. He works with a range of clients including banks, intermediaries, and both corporate and business people. He is a member of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3), is a member of the Institute of Directors and sits on the Northern Ireland Young Directors’ Forum Steering Committee. He has recent experience of successfully representing a major Irish financial instution, a US hedge fund, and acting on behalf of bank in a case involving “vishing” fraud. Patrick and Laura plan to speak about recent legal developments in the anti-fraud landscape including the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparancy Bill and the recent House of Commons Justice Committee report on the Fraud and Justice System published on 18 October 2022.
Laura Dunseath – Barrister, Eversheds Sutherland
Laura is a Legal Director and Barrister in Eversheds Sutherland’s Corporate Crime and Investigations Group. Laura’s practice is focused upon conducting internal investigations for corporate clients, and representing corporate or individual clients in relation to law enforcement or regulatory investigations or enforcement actions relating to bribery or fraud allegations. Laura qualified as a barrister in both Northern Ireland and England and Wales. Before returning to private sector in 2014, Laura spent over four years in Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service where she was Senior Public Prosecutor, followed by six years at the Serious Fraud Office in London where, as a Case Controller she led large and complex investigations and prosecutions into bribery and fraud.
Chris Wynne – Head of Financial Crime Prevention, Danske Bank
Having spent almost 18 years working across a range of business areas within the retail banking sector Chris has current 1st line responsibility for Financial Crime Prevention for Danske Bank in Northern Ireland. Working to protect both customers and society and to lead Danske Bank to be a local leader in fraud awareness, Chris is supported by a team of local colleagues and backed up by colleagues from across the wider Danske Bank Group. Chris also represents Danske Bank on the local ScamwiseNI Partnership.
Chief Superintenent Gerard Pollock – Head of the Justice Department, PSNI
Chief Superintent Pollock recently took up post as Head of the Justice Department in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). He has in-depth experience of the fight against economic crime and was pivotal in establishing the Scamwise NI partnership in 2016. Developed by the PSNI and a range of partners from public bodies, voluntary sector organisations, faith groups, youth organisations and financial institutions, it now has 45 organisations involved. The Scamwise NI partnership aims to raise awareness of scams by engaging and informing the community about the risks of scams and the range of scams that exist.
Mick Creedon – Specialist Advisor – Altia Software Ltd
Mick Creedon retired after 37 years in policing, the last 10 of which were as the Chief Constable in Derbyshire. Working in the Leicestershire Constabulary, Mick served as a detective at every level in the service with extensive experience of investigating homicide, corruption and all manner of serious and organised crime work. He transferred to Derbyshire in 2003 as Assistant Chief Constable and in 2006 became the first ACPO National Coordinator for Serious and Organised Crime. He has carried out many sensitive and high-profile external reviews and inquiries, working with numerous forces, the Metropolitan Police Service, the CPS, the IPCC/IOPC, HMRC, MI5, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the Home Office and many others.
Megan Searle – Product Analyst – Altia Software Ltd
Megan Searle is a Product Analyst at Altia, specialising in financial investigation products. Previously, Megan was a Police Investigating Officer with Nottinghamshire Police, specialising in Economic Crime. With a degree in Law, Megan brings a unique insight into the practical realities of tackling economic crime. AS a Police Investigating Officer within the Economic Crime Unit of Nottinghamshire Police Meghan worked on investingating a range of different aspects of fraud. She brings her operational experience of tackling fraud and insight to her role with Altia Software Lts as a Product Analyst delivering effective end-to-end customer experience.
Ronan Convery – Senior Consumer Empowerment Officer, Consumer Council
Ronan has been with the Northern Ireland Consumer Council for fourteen years. He works across Northern Ireland to empower and educate consumers in various areas including energy, transport, budgeting, scams, postal services and water. Ronan is an expert in consumer advice and has worked with leading organisations across Northern Ireland to educate and help consumers, including CCEA, PSNI, Danske Bank, Queen’s University, Ulster Bank and Ulster University. Ronan has led many educational projects, working from Key Stage 2 through to University level. He has represented the Consumer Council on the ScamwiseNI Partnership since 2018 and has been instrumental in design and delivery of the Scamwise Champion programme.
Wayne Denner – Speaker, Author and Trainer
Wayne Denner has spent over 21 years in the digital space using social media, smart phone tech and the internet. He is a regular speaker in primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in Ireland, the UK, US and UAE. He is a recognised expert on online reputation, online safety and protection, wellbeing and employability, and how to avoid online scams. With over two decades of experience working with large and small scale businesses, charitable, voluntary, statutory and community organisations, Wayne shares his extensive knowledge to help protect online reputation and provides training on how to prevent cyber crime. He also helps parent and carers understand the risks they face and how to protect young people. He has published The Essential Guide To Online Reputation, a number of very useful flyers for students, parents, teachers and businesses, and his web site is a goldmine of great online tips, videos, blogs and posts.
Aidan Larkin – CEO, Asset Reality
Aidan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Asset Reality. The fintech startup has developed the world’s first end-to-end platform for crypto asset recovery; from investigating crypto fraud to managing and realising seized digital assets. A former criminal tax inspector for HM Revenue & Customs in the UK and experienced Seized Asset Manager, Aidan was the world’s first seized crypto auctioneer. An Associate Fellow, specialising in asset recovery and virtual currency, at the prestigious think tank RUSI. Aidan is regular guest speaker at international conferences on seized assets and crypto asset recovery. He also acts as a visiting lecturer on asset recovery as well as being a subject matter expert for the United Nations. He is driven by his mission to help law enforcement agencies, public sector bodies and NGO’s increase effectiveness in Asset Recovery by building technology solutions and infrastructure around seized asset management and supporting the implementation of international best practice across the sector.
Conference Programme
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