Information from bank statements & other sources: example of babbage solutions cc

1. Information from bank statements & other sources: example of babbage solutions cc 2019 Certificate in Forensic Investigation Techniques, Friday 13 September 2019

2. “Investigation is both an art and a science; a collaboration of common sense, judgement, intellect, experience, and an innate intuitiveness along with a grasp of relative technical knowledge .” Charles M Alifano “Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation”

3. ACCESS TO INFORMATION Different Categories of Access: • Private persons – must observe legal parameters • Law enforcement agencies with or without subpoena includes • banking and telephone records, • interception of electronic communication and records • letters sent via postal services • Restricted to department officials (SARS) • Certain person to whom it was made as in attorney/doctor privilege

4. INFORMATION AGE – OUR GREATEST ASSET

5. PUBLIC RECORDS Information developed by and open to the public. Commercial or Government controlled databases Credit Bureaus - ITC and Experian Identity Number, Name and Address Verification MIE academic qualifications; Deeds Office property, Home Affairs – citizenship, marital status dead/alive,

6. PUBLIC RECORDS Information developed by and open to the public. CIPC -company and cc registrations, directors’ names SARS -Vat and tax registrations, Department of Social Development -NGOs and PBOs Business directories, News media, Research Articles BE AWARE OF DEFINITION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION UNDER POPI

7. Part 1:OBTAINING INFORMATION FROM OTHER SOURCES + BANK STATEMENTS

8. INTRODUCTION In-house background checks required for pre-employment checks and pre-interview checks • Less expensive & relatively easy to do • Pre-interview checks = a basic check of the applicant’s qualifications & work experience before incurring the expense of interviewing him / her • Human Resources / Business Organogram / CV

9. INTRODUCTION Profiling: • Consists of a description of a person, organisation or specific target. Gathering of intelligence is a prerequisite of the compilation of profiles. • Different types of profiles: • Standard profile – required for person under suspicion but not part of a large organized group • Advanced profile – required for a person involved in organized crime and corruption. More intense than standard profile

10. INTRODUCTION Profiling: • Psychological profile – only where serial killers (serial rapists?) are involved. Looks at the scene of the crime and the modus operandi that is used. • Number profiling – a range of numbers are linked to a person. i.e. ID number, Date of Birth, Number of Children, Street Number, Medical Aid number, Cell phone number, home and work numbers. Vehicle registration number, firearm license number, bank account number, staff number

11. INTRODUCTION Profiling: • Assets & Financial Profiles – descriptions of the financial status and detailed description of all assets belonging to the subject must be determined. Information in this regard usually requires close cooperation with the police and the obtain of legal authority to gather information. • Regarding a person’s retail information: all the relevant information with regard to an individual’s financial history is mentioned in the report. This will include listed creditors, account information and the individual’s bank particulars.

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13. HOME AFFAIRS as a source of information • Death register • Birth register • Passport • ID documents / fingerprints / photo (ps also see information available on the Voters Roll 2019 national elections – includes Names, IDs and Residential Addresses)

14. HOME AFFAIRS as a source of information Deciphering of an ID number: 5612010491083 561201 = Birthdate 1956-12-01 0491 = Female 0001-4999 Male 5000-9999 08 = RSA Citizen (Born in RSA) 18 = Not born in RSA 3 = Computer generated code

15. Deciphering of an ID number: • TEST YOUR ID NUMBER • TEST THE ID NUMBER OF JEREMY VAN DER WALT • TEST THE ID NUMBER OF WITNESSES – DEBBIE DU BEAUX

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17. municipalities as a source of information Municipalities require full particulars of people applying for the supply of water & electricity. These particulars include full names, identity numbers, work addresses etc. a returnable deposit is also required. Investigators are thus not only able to acquire valuable personal information but may obtain the wanted person’s new address as a new address is required at termination of service.

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19. BANKS AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION If the investigator possesses a bank reference number, full particulars of the wanted person may be obtained. His new branch and address, even occupation can be established in this way. Particulars of the person’s bank reference number can be obtained by means of the following: • Previous work, documents found in his previous empty house. Post at his last known address, accounts at institutions where he incurred credit or services were rendered

20. BANKS AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION • Many people are in possession of credit cards and through liaison with the International Credit Card Investigators Association particulars of the wanted person can be obtained. • The history statement will be of assistance as all money going into and out of the account will be recorded. These transactions can be followed up and trends can be identified.

21. BANKS AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION If the wanted person makes use of an automatic teller Machine (ATM) or uses his petrol card at a petrol station, it must be remembered that many banks and petrol stations do have surveillance cameras so a photo of the wanted person may be available. The registration number of the vehicle he is using may also be recorded on the cameras.

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23. Obtaining information from Bank RECORDS + analysing statements

24. Bank records Bank records are a primary source of information about where money is flowing to and from. The most common bank record is the bank statement that lists each transaction cleared in the account since the date of the last statement. • This means that bank statements form part of bank records, which contain a listing of all withdrawals and deposits made in the account during the period covered.

25. Bank records A bank record is any document, paper, letter, book, map, photograph, sound or video recording, magnetic tape, electronic-storage medium, or other information-recording medium used in a bank's normal course of business. This also means that any transaction created by means of telephone banking, internet or ATM forms part of bank records.

26. TYPES OF Bank records There are numerous documents which are regarded as bank records. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (2011:11) sees bank records as comprising the following: • All open or closed cheque, savings and money market accounts; • Retained copies of all open and closed bank loan or mortgage documents; • Certificates of deposits;

27. TYPES OF Bank records • Open and closed investment or security custodian accounts; • All open or closed retirement accounts; • Safe deposit box information and plastic cards; • All cashier’s bank or traveller’s cheques and money orders purchased; and • Customer correspondence files for each of the named parties and entities.

28. TYPES OF Bank records The list of bank records is lengthy; however, it is worth noting, that bank account applications, bank statements, and ATM card and credit card transactions are frequently referred to as types of bank records.

29. TYPES OF Bank records a) Bank Account Application : It can be argued that the bank account application is the cornerstone of all bank records. Before applicants can be formally referred to as ‘clients’, the bank account application has to be completed and, on acceptance of the application by the bank, the clients are then able to transact on their accounts. Without the completion of a bank account application, there is no business relationship between the applicant and the financial institution concerned.

30. TYPES OF Bank records b) Bank Statements The main purpose of a bank statement is to advise the account holder about the activities in their account. This is important as a failure by the bank to submit such a monthly statement to the account holder may result in the account holder losing track of their financial standing and subsequently disputing transactions on their account. Details in the bank statement must reflect all activities and the historical information of a particular bank account.

31. TYPES OF Bank records c) ATM Card Transaction Record The client must have a bank account to utilise an ATM card. All the transactions carried out with an ATM card are recorded by the relevant bank. The ATM card transaction record is therefore part of the recorded account transactions; the only difference is that the ATM card transaction record is isolated from the other transactions and is recorded on its own unique database.

32. TYPES OF Bank records c) ATM Card Transaction Record The ATM card transaction record generated from the bank system displays the following: transaction type, date and time of transaction and location of the ATM. • It should be noted that this type of bank record is for investigative purpose only and an internal document which does not necessarily have to be accessed by the account holder.

33. TYPES OF Bank records d) Credit Card Transaction Record The credit card transaction record can only be generated once the credit card has been obtained by the applicant and that the accumulated use of the credit card is sent to the card holder in the form of a statement. This statement details, amongst other things, all purchases by the credit card, all locations where the credit card was used, and amounts, dates and time.

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35. FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION Financial investigation is an investigative technique used by investigators to determine the accurate financial affairs of a subject, including ascertaining assets, locations and associates through the analysis of bank records. A financial investigation involves the connection of a series of unrelated financial transactions that, when presented in total, provide a complete picture of an individual’s financial activity over a set period of time.

36. FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION It can be argued that to be able to conduct a financial investigation an investigator would need to have both legal and accounting skills. Tracing a suspect through bank records does not need a high level of mathematical methods; the emphasis is on the location in which transactions take place as opposed to the actual cash flow. • Accordingly, DPCI Commercial Crime Unit investigators, by virtue of their conducting commercial crime investigations, can be considered financial investigators to a certain extent as they analyse bank statements.

37. FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION Financial investigation is an investigative technique that requires a certain degree of competency in and knowledge of analysing bank records to determine, amongst other things, the financial status of a subject and location of the subject’s transactions. • Financial investigation is also used to trace the subject and the associates and relatives of the subject. The degree of competency required of investigators can be acquired by the development and delivery of comprehensive courses on investigative and analytic techniques.

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39. Section 205 Subpoena A Section 205 subpoena is a legal document or a court order which compels any person, whether a natural or a juristic person who is likely to be in possession of relevant information regarding the alleged offence, to appear before the judicial officer or, if such a person can provide the required information, they may be excused from such appearance. • The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners submits that the relationship between the banks and their customers is usually confidential; generally, information from banks can be obtained only by subpoena or court order.

40. Section 205 Subpoena That an application must be made by the public prosecutor to the judge or magistrate to request the attendance of any person who is likely to give relevant material about any alleged offence • provided that should such a person furnishes the relevant information to the satisfaction of the public prosecutor concerned prior to the date on which he is required to appear before the judge or magistrate, he shall not be further obliged to appear before a judge or magistrate.

41. Section 205 Subpoena In general, the SAPS and other government investigative arms use this piece of legislation to compel financial institutions to release certain information that relates to their investigations. In certain instances, such information may be requested from cellphone companies. When SAPS investigators approach banks with respect to the bank records of individuals or entities, they use what is termed a ‘Section 205 subpoena proforma’. This document highlights information required and issued in terms of the provisions of section 205 of the CPA

42. Section 205 Subpoena The proforma document consists of the following sections: • An application by the public prosecutor addressed to the magistrate • This application generally lists the name of the person whose attendance is required, the institution involved, date required, SAPS case number, investigating officer’s name, alleged offence and suspect’s name. • Affidavit in support of the application by the investigating officer • -In their affidavit, the investigating officer highlights certain facts that they have established during the course of the investigation and that certain important facts which are in the possession of the above-mentioned person are still outstanding.

43. Section 205 Subpoena The proforma document consists of the following sections: • Subpoena with annexure/s • A subpoena is a court order signed by the judge/magistrate instructing a police officer to serve the said document to the person whose particulars are reflected in the document, to appear before a magistrate on a specific date and time to be examined by the public prosecutor. • Notice of service • The notice of service is the certificate by the police officer or investigating officer who has served the subpoena, highlighting how the subpoena was served.

44. Section 205 Subpoena The proforma document consists of the following sections: • Affidavit in terms of section 236 (1) of CPA • A bank employee would have to complete this affidavit on handing over the requested documents. The employee also needs to add that the copies of the said documents are correct copies of the documents.

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46. Identifying Significant Transactions in the Bank Account Monthly account statements are designed to be simple enough for the layperson to read and understand. Taking this into consideration, it follows that an investigator should be able to identify certain significant transactions in a bank statement which may assist during the tracing of a suspect Debits mean withdrawals while Credits mean deposits. Various significant types of debits and credits are found in the bank statement, which could assist in the tracing of a suspect.

47. Identifying Significant Transactions in the Bank Account In addition to credits and debits, the following are significant: • Type of transfer and type of the account used in the transfer. • In reference to the location of the transaction, the address, street number, and name of the location. • Name of the place of business. • The name of the other person if funds are being transferred to a third party, and the account number for the statement issued. • Balance of the statement at the beginning and end of the statement period.

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49. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES THE FACILITATOR WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEGDE THE FOLLOWING SOURCES USED: A) Investigation, The A-Z Guide – by HJN van Rooyen; Publisher = Crime Solve; ISBN 0-620-33191-7 • B) Dissertation by NW Myeza submitted to UNISA & dated December 2014: “THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BANK RECORDS ANALYSIS AS A TECHNIQUE IN TRACING FRAUD SUSPECTS” • C) Forensic Accounting by John Taylor, Pearson Publishers, 2011 • D) Babbage Solutions CC Training Scenario

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