On April 1st 2020, the FATF warned that criminals are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to carry out financial frauds and scams, including advertising and trafficking of counterfeit medicines, offering of fraudulent investment opportunities, and engaging in phishing schemes that prey on virus-related fears. Malicious or fraudulent cybercrimes, fundraising for fake charities, and various medical scams targeting innocent victims are likely to increase, as criminals are attempting to profit from the pandemic by exploiting people in urgent need of care by spreading misinformation about COVID-19. 

The FATF urged authorities and companies belonging to the private sector to share information and to strengthen their ML/FT prevention systems, and pointed out that risk-based supervision and enforcement activities are now more critical than ever.

Finally, the FATF noted that financial institutions and other businesses should remain vigilant to emerging ML and TF risks, ensure that they continue to effectively mitigate these risks and are able to detect and report suspicious activity.