Stefano Siggia, CAMS, Author at ACAMS Today

AFC Challenges, Europe Express, Featured Column

Virtual IBANs under scrutiny: Closing Europe’s digital banking loophole

November 12, 2025 /Leave a comment

“Hi mum, I lost my phone. This is my new number.” That simple, familiar message was all it took to spark a wave of deception across Luxembourg in early 2023. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The message came from a Luxembourg mobile number, written...

Europe Express, September – November 2025, World Digest

Europe’s dirty secret: Waste trafficking

September 12, 2025 /1 Comment

Just a short drive from the tourist streets of Naples, Italy, the soil bears witness to an unnatural death toll. The towns of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano, once idyllic rural communities, have earned the grim epithet of “the Triangle of Death.” This lethal zone created...

Environmental Crimes, Europe Express, Understanding AI

ECO-SOLVE: Using AI to Disrupt Global Wildlife Trafficking

April 21, 2025November 3, 2025 /Leave a comment

An African grey parrot, a common boa, a pangolin … these are not just animals in the wild; they are commodities advertised and sold on social media every day. Once confined to shadowy backroom deals, the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has gone digital, thriving on...

AFC Challenges, Europe Express, Featured Column, Fraud

Fraud as a Service: A Growing Threat in the EU

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 /Leave a comment

For as little as 250 euros ($273) a month, anyone could run their own phishing empire. This is what the Dutch LabHost network offered—an all-in-one fraud-as-a-service (FaaS) platform that sold tools to create fake banking and government institution websites to scam victims worldwide. For as...

Europe Express, March – May 2025, Sanctions, World Digest

Instant Payments: A Sanctions Revolution or Burden

March 19, 2025March 21, 2025 /Leave a comment

Ten seconds―that is all it takes to break payment barriers across European borders under the European Union’s (EU) new Instant Payment Regulation (IPR). Entered into force in April 2024, it requires all payment service providers (PSPs) to receive instant payments as of January 9, 2025,...

December 2024 – February 2025, Europe Express, World Digest

EMPACT: Europe’s Flagship Instrument Against Crime

December 19, 2024 /Leave a comment

At first glance, there appeared to be nothing unusual when―between 2022 and 2023―a group of scholars requested access to rare Russian literary works from historical and national libraries across Europe. But when the returned editions by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and others were found to...

ACAMS Connection, Europe Express, Featured Column

The Birth of a Global Initiative: The Wolfsberg Group

December 9, 2024 /Leave a comment

United States (US) Democratic Senator Carl Levin had just joined the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) as chair when he learned of a troubling audit conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Fed). In their review of the anti-money laundering...

Europe Express, September – November 2024, World Digest

Is AI Incompatible With the GDPR?

September 5, 2024 /Leave a comment

ChatGPT suffers from hallucinations―an ailment that its creator, OpenAI, is unable to cure. It is under these pretenses that in April 2024, the Austrian data privacy nonprofit organization, NOYB, founded by privacy activist Max Schrems, filed a complaint against OpenAI with the Austrian Data Protection...

Europe Express, In Focus

The Dual Edges of GenAI and the EU’s Regulatory Vision

June 19, 2024 /Leave a comment

In early 2024, a finance officer in Hong Kong was wary of an email received from the chief financial officer of a UK-based company, concerning a secret transaction. A video call was organised to quell his doubts, and behind his screen sat the originator of...