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17 Blockchain Applications That Are Transforming Society.Blockchain BusinessFinancial ServicesTraditional systems tend to be cumbersome, error-prone and maddeningly slow. Intermediaries are often needed to mediate the process and resolve conflicts. Naturally, this costs stress, time, and money. In contrast, users find the blockchain cheaper, more transparent, and more effective. Small wonder that a growing number of financial services are using this system to introduce innovations, such as smart bonds and smart contracts. The former automatically pays bondholders their coupons once certain preprogrammed terms are met. The latter are digital contracts that self-execute and self-maintain, again when terms are met.Examples of blockchain financial servicesAsset Management: Trade Processing and SettlementTraditional trade processes within asset management (where parties trade and manage assets) can be expensive and risky, particularly when it comes to cross-border transactions. Each party in the process, such as broker, custodian, or the settlement manager, keeps their own records which create significant inefficiencies and room for error. The blockchain ledger reduces error by encrypting the records. At the same time, the ledger simplifies the process, while canceling the need for intermediaries.Insurance: Claims processingClaims processing can be a frustrating and thankless procedure. Insurance processors have to wade through fraudulent claims, fragmented data sources, or abandoned policies for users to state a few – and process these forms manually. Room for error is huge. The blockchain provides a perfect system for risk-free management and transparency. Its encryption properties allow insurers to capture the ownership of assets to be insured.Payments: Cross-Border PaymentsThe global payments sector is error-prone, costly, and open to money laundering. It takes days if not longer for money to cross the world. The blockchain is already providing solutions with remittance companies such as Abra, Align Commerce and Bitspark that offer end-to-end blockchain powered remittance services. In 2004, Santander became one of the first banks to merge blockchain to a payments app, enabling customers to make international payments 24 hours a day, while clearing the next day.Smart PropertyA tangible or intangible property, such as cars, houses, or cookers, on the one hand, or patents, property titles, or company shares, on the other, can have smart technology embedded in them. Such registration can be stored on the ledger along with contractual details of others who are allowed ownership in this property. Smart keys could be used to facilitate access to the permitted party. The ledger stores and allows the exchange of these smart keys once the contract is verified.The decentralized ledger also becomes a system for recording and managing property rights as well as enabling the smart contracts to be duplicated if records or the smart key is lost.Making property smart decreases your risks of running into fraud, mediation fees, and questionable business situations. At the same time, it increases trust and efficiency.Examples of Blockchain Smart Property.Unconventional money lenders/ hard money lendingSmart contracts can revolutionize the traditional lending system. For instance, unconventional money lenders (e.g. hard money lenders) service borrowers who have poor credit with needed loans – while charging two to ten percent of the loan amount and claiming their property as collateral. Too many borrowers fall into bankruptcy and lose homes. The blockchain can undercut this by allowing a stranger to loan you money and taking your smart property as collateral. No need to show the lender credit or work history. No need to manually process the numerous documents. The property’s encoded on the blockchain for all to see.Your car/ smartphonePrimitive forms of smart property exist. Your car-key, for instance, may be outfitted with an immobilizer, where the car can only be activated once you tap the right protocol on the key. Your smartphone too will only function once you type in the right PIN code. Both work on cryptography to protect your ownership.The problem with primitive forms of smart property is that the key is usually held in a physical container, such as the car key or SIM card, and can’t be easily transferred or copied. The blockchain ledger solves this problem by allowing blockchain miners to replace and replicate a lost protocol.Blockchain Internet-of-Things (IoT)Any material object is a ‘thing.’ It becomes an internet of things (IoT) when it has an on/ off switch that connects it to the internet and to each other. By being connected to a computer network, the object, such as a car, become more than just an object. It is now people-people, people-things, and things-things. The analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices. Others raise that number to over 100!How does the IoT affect you? Your printer can automatically order cartridges from Amazon when it runs low. Your alarm clock will change your time for brewing coffee, while your oven will produce an immaculately timed turkey for Thanksgiving. These are just some examples. On a larger scale, cities and governments can use IoT to develop cleaner environments, more efficient energy use and so-called ‘smart cities,’ to improve how we live and work.Where the blockchain comes inAs in all cases, the blockchain ledger provides security to this Internet of things. With billions of devices linked together, cybersecurity experts worry how to make sure this distributed information stays secure.What can companies do to protect their systems from being invaded?How can inventors shield their ideas?How should governments protect their secret information from spies and potential terrorists?Then, there’s the problem of how to organize and analyze this massive amount of data that’s coming from these related devices.Enter the blockchain ledger system that ensures that information is only accepted and released to trusted parties. The ledger grants parties a management platform for analyzing the vast amounts of data.Examples of Blockchain Internet-of-Things (IoT)Smart AppliancesA smart appliance is a device that connects to the internet and gives you more information and control than before. For instance, a code connected to your appliance can be linked to the internet and alert you when your cookies are ready or if your laundry has stopped. These alerts keep your appliances in good condition, they save you money regarding energy efficiency and help you control your devices when away from home, among other benefits. Encrypting these appliances on the blockchain protects your ownership and enables transferability.Supply Chain SensorsSensors give companies end-to-end visibility of their supply chain by providing data on the location and condition of the supplies as they are transported around the globe. As of 2016, a Deloitte and MHI report surveyed 99 leading supply chain companies and found that sensors were used by 44% of these respondents. Eighty-seven percent of these industries said they plan to use the technology by 2020. The technology is expected to grow to 1 trillion by 2022 and to 10 trillion sensors by 2030, according to this sme Deloitte and MHI report. The blockchain stores, manages, protects and transfers this smart information.Smart ContractsSmart contracts are digital which are embedded with an if-this-then-that (IFTTT) code, which gives them self-execution. In real life, an intermediary ensures that all parties follow through on terms. The blockchain not only waives the need for third parties, but also ensures that all ledger participants know the contract details and that contractual terms implement automatically once conditions are met.You can use smart contracts for all sort of situations, such as financial derivatives, insurance premiums, property law, and crowd funding agreements, among others.Examples of Blockchain Smart ContractsBlockchain HealthcarePersonal health records could be encoded and stored on the blockchain with a private key which would grant access only to specific individuals. The same strategy could be used to ensure that research is conducted via HIPAA laws (in a secure and confidential way). Receipts of surgeries could be stored on a blockchain and automatically sent to insurance providers as proof-of-delivery. The ledger, too, could be used for general health care management, such as supervising drugs, regulation compliance, testing results, and managing healthcare supplies.Blockchain musicKey problems in the music industry include ownership rights, royalty distribution, and transparency. The digital music industry focuses on monetizing productions, while ownership rights are often overlooked. The blockchain and smart contracts technology can circuit this problem by creating a comprehensive and accurate decentralized database of music rights. At the same time, the ledger and provide transparent transmission of artist royalties and real time distributions to all involved with the labels. Players would be paid with digital currency according to the specified terms of the contract.Blockchain GovernmentIn the 2016 election, Democrats and Republicans questioned the security of the voting system. The Green Party called for a recount in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Computer scientists say hackers can rig the electronic system to manipulate votes. The ledger would prevent this since votes become encrypted. Private individuals can confirm that their votes were counted and confirm who they voted for. The system saves money, by the way, for the government, too.The blockchain ledger, also, provides a platform for what we call “responsive, open data.” According to a 2013 report from McKinsey and Company, open data – freely accessible government-sourced data that is available over the internet to all citizens – can make the world richer by $2.6 trillion. Startups can use this data to uncover fraudulent schemes, farmers can use it to perform precision farm-cropping, and parents can investigate the side effects of medicine for their sick children. Right now, this data is released only once a year and is, largely, non-responsive to citizens input. The blockchain, as a public ledger, can open this data to citizens whenever and wherever they want.Examples of Blockchain GovernmentPublic value/ communityThe blockchain can facilitate self-organization by providing a self-management platform for companies, NGOs, foundations, government agencies, academics, and individual citizens. Parties can interact and exchange information on a global and transparent scale – think of Google Cloud, but larger and less risky.Vested responsibilitySmart contracts can ensure that electorates can be elected by the people for the people so that government is what it’s meant to be. The contracts specify the electorate’s expectations and electors will get paid only once they do what the electorate demanded rather than what funders desired.Blockchain IdentityWhether we like it or not, online companies know all about us. Some companies whom we purchase from sell our identity details to advertisers who send you their ads. The blockchain blocks this by creating a protected data point where you encrypt only the information that you want relevant people to know at certain times. For example, if you’re going to a bar, the bartender simply needs the information that tells him you’re over 21.The blockchain protects your identity by encrypting it and securing it from spammers and marketing schemes.Examples of Blockchain Identity:PassportsThe first digital passport launched on Github in 2014 and could help owners identify themselves online and off. How does it work? You take a picture of yourself, stamp it with a public and private key, both of which are encoded to prove it is legitimate. The passport is stored on the ledger, given a Bitcoin address with a public IP, and confirmed by Blockchain users.Birth, wedding, and death certificatesFew things are more important than documents showing you’re born, married, died which open your rights to all sorts of privileges (such as voting, working, citizenship), yet mismanagement is rife. Up to a third of children under the age of five have not been issued a birth certificate, the UNICEF reported in 2013. The blockchain could make record-keeping more reliable by encrypting birth and death certification and empowering citizens to access this crucial information.Personal IdentificationWe carry a range of identifications: Our driver’s license, computer password, identity cards, keys, social security ID, and so forth. Blockchain ID is a digital form of ID that’s engineered to replace all these forms of physical identification. In the future, fintech scientists say you’ll be able to use the one digital ID for signing up at any registrar. It is open source, secured by the blockchain, and protected by a ledger of transparent account.

Wells Fargo - WikipediaWells FargoFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchFor other uses, see Wells Fargo (disambiguation).Wells Fargo & CompanyCompany logo since 2009Wells Fargo's headquarters complex in San Francisco, CaliforniaTypePublicTraded asNYSE: WFCS&P 100 componentS&P 500 componentISINUS9497461015IndustryBankingFinancial servicesInsurancePredecessorsCollapsible list[show]FoundedMarch 18, 1852 (167 years ago) in San Francisco, California, USFoundersHenry WellsWilliam FargoHeadquarters420 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, USNumber of locations8,050 branches (2018)13,000 ATMs (2018)Area servedWorldwideKey peopleElizabeth Duke(Chair)C. Allen Parker(Interim President & CEO)John R. Shrewsberry(CFO)ProductsCollapsible list[show]RevenueUS$86.40 billion (2018)Operating incomeUS$30.28 billion (2018)Net incomeUS$22.39 billion (2018)Total assetsUS$1.895 trillion (2018)Total equityUS$197.06 billion (2018)OwnerBerkshire Hathaway (10%)Membersc.70 million (2018)Number of employeesc.258,700 (2018)SubsidiariesWells Fargo AdvisorsWells Fargo Bank, N.A.Wells Fargo RailWells Fargo SecuritiesRatingFitch: A+ (2018)Moody's: A2 (2018)S&P: A− (2018)Websitewellsfargo.comFootnotes / references[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]Wells Fargo branch in Berkeley, CaliforniaWells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial servicescompany headquartered in San Francisco, California, with central offices throughout the United States.[9]It is the world's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and the fourth largest bank in the US by total assets.[10][11]Wells Fargo is ranked #26 on the 2018 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest US corporations by total revenue.[12]In July 2015, Wells Fargo became the world's largest bank by market capitalization, edging past ICBC,[11]before slipping behind JPMorgan Chase in September 2016, in the wake of a scandal involving the creation of over 2 million fake bank accounts by Wells Fargo employees.[10]Wells Fargo fell behind Bank of America to third by bank deposits in 2017[13]and behind Citigroup to fourth by total assets in 2018.[14]The firm's primary operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Wells Fargo in its present form is a result of a merger between San Francisco–based Wells Fargo & Company and Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998 and the subsequent 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia. Following the mergers, the company transferred its headquarters to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco and merged its operating subsidiary with Wells Fargo's operating subsidiary in Sioux Falls. Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, Wells Fargo is one of the "Big Four Banks" of the United States.[15]As of June 2018, it had 8,050 branches and 13,000 ATMs.[2]In 2018 the company had operations in 35 countries with over 70 million customers globally.[2]In February 2014, Wells Fargo was named the world's most valuable bank brand for the second consecutive year[16]in The Banker and Brand Financestudy of the top 500 banking brands.[17]In 2016, Wells Fargo ranked 7th on the Forbes Magazine Global 2000 list of largest public companies in the world and ranked 27th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the US.[7][18]In 2015, the company was ranked the 22nd most admired company in the world, and the 7th most respected company in the world.[7]As of December 2018, the company had a Standard & Poors credit rating of A−.[8]However, for a brief period in 2007, the company was the only AAA‑rated bank, reflecting the highest credit rating from two firms.[19]On February 2, 2018, the US Federal Reserve Bank barred Wells Fargo from growing its nearly US$2 trillion-asset base any further, based upon years of misconduct, until Wells Fargo fixes its internal problems to the satisfaction of the Federal Reserve.[20]In April 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Labor had launched a probe into whether Wells Fargo was pushing its customers into more expensive retirement plans as well as intoretirement funds managed by Wells Fargo itself.[21][22]Subsequently in May 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wells Fargo's business banking group had improperly altered documents about business clients in 2017 and early 2018.[23]In June 2018, Wells Fargo began retreating from retail bankingin the Midwestern United States by announcing the sale of all its physical bank branch locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to Flagstar Bank.[24][13]Contents1History1.1Wells Fargo History Museums1.2Key dates1.3Wachovia acquisition1.4Investment by US Treasury Department during 2008 financial crisis1.4.1History of Wells Fargo Securities1.5Environmental record2Operations and services2.1Community banking2.1.1Consumer lending2.1.2Wells Fargo private student loans2.1.3Equipment lending2.2Wealth and Investment Management2.2.1Wells Fargo Asset Management2.2.2Wells Fargo Securities2.3Cross-selling2.4International operations2.5Charter3Lawsuits, fines and controversies3.11981 MAPS Wells Fargo embezzlement scandal3.2Higher costs charged to African-American and Hispanic borrowers3.3Failure to monitor suspected money laundering3.4Overdraft fees3.5Settlement and fines regarding mortgage servicing practices3.6SEC fine due to inadequate risk disclosures3.7Lawsuit by FHA over loan underwriting3.8Lawsuit due to premium inflation on forced place insurance3.9Lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees3.102015 Violation of New York credit card laws3.11Executive compensation3.12Tax avoidance and lobbying3.13Prison industry investment3.14SEC settlement for insider trading case3.15Wells Fargo account fraud scandal3.16Racketeering lawsuit for mortgage appraisal overcharges3.17Dakota Access Pipeline investment3.18Failure to comply with document security requirements3.19Connections to the gun industry and NRA3.20Discrimination against female workers3.21Auto insurance4CEO-to-worker pay ratio5See also6Notes7References8External linksHistory[edit]Main article: History of Wells FargoWells Fargo History Museums[edit]The company operates 12 museums, most known as a Wells Fargo History Museum,[25]in its corporate buildings inCharlotte, North Carolina, Denver, Colorado, Des Moines, Iowa, Los Angeles, California, Minneapolis, Minnesota,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Phoenix, Arizona, Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, California and San Francisco, California. Displays include original stagecoaches, photographs, gold nuggets and mining artifacts, the Pony Express, telegraphequipment and historic bank artifacts. The company also operates a museum about company history in the Pony Express Terminal in Old Sacramento State Historic Park in Sacramento, California, which was the company's second office,[26]and the Wells Fargo History Museum in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park in San Diego, California.[27]Wells Fargo operates the Alaska Heritage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska, which features a large collection of Alaskan Native artifacts, ivory carvings and baskets, fine art by Alaskan artists, and displays about Wells Fargo history in the Alaskan Gold Rush era.[28]Key dates[edit]A late 19th Century Wells Fargo Bank in Apache Junction, Arizona1879 Wells Fargo Stagecoach on exhibit in the Wells Fargo Museum in PhoenixThe Wells Fargo Stage Stop built in 1872 in Black Canyon City, ArizonaWells Fargo bank in Chinatown,Houston, TexasA remodeled Wells Fargo bank inFort Worth, TexasWells Fargo in Laredo, Texas1852: Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the two founders of American Express, formed Wells Fargo & Company to provide express and banking services to California.1860: Wells Fargo gained control of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, leading to operation of the western portion of the Pony Express.1866: "Grand consolidation" united Wells Fargo, Holladay, and Overland Mail stage lines under the Wells Fargo name.1905: Wells Fargo separated its banking and express operations; Wells Fargo's bank was merged with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.1918: As a wartime measure, the US Federal Government nationalized Wells Fargo's express franchise into a federal agency known as the US Railway Express Agency. The US Federal Government took control of the express company. The bank began rebuilding but with a focus on commercial markets. After the war, REA was privatized and continued service until 1975.1923: Wells Fargo Nevada merged with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.1929: Northwest Bancorporation was formed as a banking association.1954: Wells Fargo & Union Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.1960: Wells Fargo merged with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.1962: Wells Fargo American Trust again shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.1968: Wells Fargo converted to a federal banking charter, becoming Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo merged with Henry Trione's Sonoma Mortgage in a $10.8 million stock transfer, making Trione the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo until Warren Buffett and Walter Annenberg later surpassed him.[29]1969: Wells Fargo & Company holding company was formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.1982: Northwest Bancorporation acquired consumer finance firm Dial Finance which is renamed Norwest Financial Service the following year.1983: Northwest Bancorporation was renamed Norwest Corporation.1983: White Eagle, largest US bank heist to date took place at a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.1986: Wells Fargo acquired Crocker National Corporation from Midland Bank.1987: Wells Fargo acquired the personal trust business of Bank of America.1988: Wells Fargo acquired Barclays Bank of California from Barclays plc.[30]1995: Wells Fargo became the first major US financial services firm to offer Internet banking.1996: Wells Fargo acquired First Interstate Bancorp for US$11.6 billion.[31]1998: Wells Fargo Bank was acquired by Norwest Corporation of Minneapolis.[32](Norwest was the surviving company; however, it chose to continue business under the more well-known Wells Fargo name.)2000: Wells Fargo Bank acquired National Bank of Alaska.[33]2000: Wells Fargo acquired First Security Corporation.[34]2001: Wells Fargo acquired H.D. Vest Financial Services for US$128 million, but sold it in 2015 for US$580 million.[35]2007: Wells Fargo acquired CIT's construction unit.[36]2007: Wells Fargo acquired Placer Sierra Bank.2007: Wells Fargo acquired Greater Bay Bancorp, which had US$7.4 billion in assets, in a US$1.5 billion transaction.[37][38]2008: Wells Fargo acquired United Bancorporation of Wyoming.[39]2008: Wells Fargo acquired Century Bancshares of Texas.[40]2008: Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia Corporation.2009: Wells Fargo acquired North Coast Surety Insurance Services.[41]2012: Wells Fargo acquired Merlin Securities.[42][43]2012: Wells Fargo acquired stake in The Rock Creek Group LP.2019: CEO Tim Sloan resigns causing stock to jump and leaves General Counsel Allen Parker as Interim CEOWachovia acquisition[edit]A former Wachovia branch converted to Wells Fargo in the fall of 2011 in Durham, North CarolinaOn October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about US$14.8 billion in an all-stock transaction. This news came four days after the USFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for US$2.1 billion. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However, the deal with Wells Fargo overwhelmingly won shareholder approval since it valued Wachovia at about seven times what Citigroup offered. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo preferred stock that holds 39.9% of the voting power in the company.[44]On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out.[45]Citigroup alleged that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wachovia from negotiating with other potential buyers. The injunction was overturned late in the evening on October 5, 2008, by New York state appeals court.[46]Citigroup and Wells Fargo then entered into negotiations brokered by the FDIC to reach an amicable solution to the impasse. Those negotiations failed. Sources say that Citigroup was unwilling to take on more risk than the US$42 billion that would have been the cap under the previous FDIC-backed deal (with the FDIC incurring all losses over US$42 billion). Citigroup did not block the merger, but indicated they would seek damages of US$60 billion for breach of an alleged exclusivity agreement with Wachovia.[47]Investment by US Treasury Department during 2008 financial crisis[edit]On October 28, 2008, Wells Fargo was the recipient of US$25 billion of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act funds in the form of a preferred stock purchase by the US Treasury Department.[48][49]Tests by the US Federal Government revealed that Wells Fargo needed an additional US$13.7 billion in order to remain well capitalized if the economy were to deteriorate further under stress test scenarios. On May 11, 2009, Wells Fargo announced an additional stock offering which was completed on May 13, 2009, raising US$8.6 billion in capital. The remaining US$4.9 billion in capital was planned to be raised through earnings. On Dec. 23, 2009, Wells Fargo redeemed the US$25 billion of preferred stock issued to the US Treasury. As part of the redemption of the preferred stock, Wells Fargo also paid accrued dividends of US$131.9 million, bringing the total dividends paid to US$1.441 billion since the preferred stock was issued in October 2008.[50]History of Wells Fargo Securities[edit]Wells Fargo Securities was established in 2009 to house Wells Fargo's capital markets group which it obtained during the Wachovia acquisition. Prior to that point, Wells Fargo had little to no participation in investment banking activities, though Wachovia had a well established investment banking practice which it operated under the Wachovia Securities banner.Wachovia's institutional capital markets and investment banking business arose from the merger of Wachovia and First Union. First Union had bought Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co. on April 30, 1998 adding to its merger and acquisition, high yield, leveraged finance, equity underwriting, private placement, loan syndication, risk management, and public financecapabilities.[51]Legacy components of Wells Fargo Securities include Wachovia Securities, Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co., Barrington Associates, Halsey, Stuart & Co., Leopold Cahn & Co., Bache & Co.. Prudential Securities, A.G. Edwards, Inc. and the investment banking arm of Citadel LLC.[52]Duke Energy Center in Charlotte, North Carolina home of Wells Fargo Securities[53]Environmental record[edit]In 2009, Wells Fargo ranked #1 among banks and insurance companies, and #13 overall, inNewsweek Magazine's inaugural "Green Rankings" of the country's 500 largest companies.[54]In 2013, the company was recognized by the EPA Center for Corporate Climate Leadership as a Climate Leadership Award winner, in the category "Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management (Goal Setting Certificate)"; this recognition was for the company's aim to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its US operations by 35% by 2020 versus 2008 levels.[55]As of 2013, Wells Fargo had provided more than US$6 billion in financing for environmentally beneficial business opportunities, including supporting 185 commercial-scale solar photovoltaic projects and 27 utility-scale wind projects nationwide.[56][better source needed]Wells Fargo has launched what it believes to be the first blog among its industry peers to report on its environmental stewardship and to solicit feedback and ideas from its stakeholders.[57][58]We want to be as open and clear as possible about our environmental efforts – both our accomplishments and challenges – and share our experiences, ideas and thoughts as we work to integrate environmental responsibility into everything we do," said Mary Wenzel, director of Environmental Affairs. "We also want to hear and learn from our customers. By working together, we can do even more to protect and preserve natural resources for future generations.—Mary Wenzel, director of Environmental Affairs, Wells Fargo, 2010 press releaseOperations and services[edit]Map of Wells Fargo branches in August 2015Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments when reporting results:Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement.Community banking[edit]The Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Diversified Products, and Consumer Deposits groups, as well as Wells Fargo Customer Connection (formerly Wells Fargo Phone Bank, Wachovia Direct Access, the National Business Banking Center, and Credit Card Customer Service). Wells Fargo also has around 2,000 stand-alone mortgage branches throughout the country.[59]There are mini-branches located inside of other buildings, which are almost exclusively grocery stores, that usually contain ATMs, basicteller services, and, space permitting, an office for private meetings with customers.[60]In March 2017, Wells Fargo announced a plan to offer smartphone-based transactions with mobile wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.[61]Consumer lending[edit]As of Q3 2011, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage was the largest retail mortgage lender in the United States, originating one out of every four home loans.[62]Wells Fargo services US$1.8 trillion in home mortgages, the second largest servicing portfolio in the US[63]It was reported in 2012 Wells Fargo reached 30% market share for US mortgages, however, the then-CEO John Stumpf had said the numbers were misleading because about half of that share represented the aggregation of smaller loans that were then sold on in the secondary market. In 2013, its share was closer to 22%; of which eight percentage points was aggregation.[64]Wells Fargo private student loans[edit]Wells Fargo private student loans are available to students to pay for college expenses, such as tuition, books, computers, or housing.[65]Loans are available for undergraduate, career and community colleges, graduate school, law school and medical school. Wells Fargo also provides private student loan consolidation and student loans for parents.[citation needed]Equipment lending[edit]Wells Fargo has various divisions that finance and lease equipment to different types of companies.[66][citation needed]One venture is Wells Fargo Rail, which in 2015 agreed to the purchase of GE Capital Rail Services and merged in with First Union Rail.[67]In late 2015, it was announced that Wells Fargo would buy three GE units focused on business loans equipment financing.[68]Wealth and Investment Management[edit]Wells Fargo Advisors headquarters in St. Louis, MissouriWells Fargo offers investment products through its subsidiaries, Wells Fargo Investments, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, as well as through national broker/dealer firms. The company also serves high-net-worth individuals through its private bank and family wealthgroup.The logo for Wells Fargo AdvisorsWells Fargo Advisors is the brokerage subsidiary of Wells Fargo, located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the third largest brokerage firm in the United States as of the third quarter of 2010 with US$1.1 trillion retail client assets under management.[7]Wells Fargo Advisors was known as Wachovia Securities until May 1, 2009, when it legally changed names following the Wells Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia Corporation.In September 2018, Wells Fargo announced to cut 26,450 jobs by 2020 to reduce costs by US$4 billion.[69]Wells Fargo Asset Management[edit]Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLCTypeSubsidiaryIndustryMutual fundsHeadquartersKansas City, MissouriArea servedWorldwideWebsitewellsfargofunds.comWells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) is the trade name for the mutual funddivision of Wells Fargo & Co. Mutual funds are offered under the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds brand name.Wells Fargo Securities[edit]Wells Fargo Securities, LLCTypeSubsidiaryIndustryInvestment BankingHeadquartersCharlotte, North CarolinaArea servedWorldwideWebsitewww.wellsfargo.com/com/securities/The Seagram Building: Home of Wells Fargo Securities' New York offices and trading floorsWells Fargo Securities (WFS) is the investment banking division of Wells Fargo & Co. The size and financial performance of this group is not disclosed publicly, but analysts believe the investment banking group houses approximately 4,500 employees and generates between US$3 and US$4 billion per year in investment banking revenue. By comparison, two of Wells Fargo's largest competitors, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chasegenerated approximately US$5.5 billion and US$6 billion respectively in 2011 (not including sales and trading revenue).[70]WFS headquarters are in Charlotte, North Carolina, with other US offices in New York, Minneapolis, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with international offices in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo.Cross-selling[edit]A key part of Wells Fargo's business strategy is cross-selling, the practice of encouraging existing customers to buy additional banking products.[71]Customers inquiring about their checking account balance may be pitched mortgage deals and mortgage holders may be pitched credit card offers in an attempt to increase the customer's profitability to the bank.[72][73]Other banks have attempted to emulate Wells Fargo's cross-selling practices (described byThe Wall Street Journal as a hard sell technique);[72]Forbes magazine describes Wells Fargo as "better than anyone" at the practice.[73]International operations[edit]Wells Fargo has banking services throughout the world, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo,Toronto.[74][75]They operate back-offices in India and the Philippines with more than 3,000 staff.[76]Charter[edit]Wells Fargo operates under Charter #1, the first national bank charter issued in the United States. This charter was issued to First National Bank of Philadelphia on June 20, 1863, by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.[77]Traditionally, acquiring banks assume the earliest issued charter number. Thus, the first charter passed from First National Bank of Philadelphia to Wells Fargo through its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia, which had inherited it through one of its many acquisitions.Lawsuits, fines and controversies[edit]A Wells Fargo branch in Logan, Utah1981 MAPS Wells Fargo embezzlement scandal[edit]In 1981, it was discovered that a Wells Fargo assistant operations officer, Lloyd Benjamin "Ben" Lewis, had perpetrated one of the largest embezzlements in history, through its Beverly Drive branch. During 1978 - 1981, Lewis had successfully written phony debit and credit receipts to benefit boxing promoters Harold J. Smith (né Ross Eugene Fields) and Sam "Sammie" Marshall, chairman and president, respectively, of Muhammed Ali Professional Sports, Inc. (MAPS), of which Lewis was also listed as a director; Marshall, too, was a former employee of the same Wells Fargo branch as Lewis. In excess of US$300,000 was paid to Lewis, who pled guilty to embezzlement andconspiracy charges in 1981, and testified against his co-conspirators for a reduced five-year sentence.[78](Boxer Muhammed Ali had received a fee for the use of his name, and had no other involvement with the organization.[79])Higher costs charged to African-American and Hispanic borrowers[edit]Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit against Wells Fargo on July 31, 2009, alleging that the bank steers African Americans and Hispanics into high-cost subprime loans. A Wells Fargo spokesman responded that "The policies, systems, and controls we have in place – including in Illinois – ensure race is not a factor..."[80]An affidavit filed in the case stated that loan officers had referred to black mortgage-seekers as "mud people," and the subprime loans as "ghetto loans."[81]According to Beth Jacobson, a loan officer at Wells Fargo interviewed for a report in The New York Times, "We just went right after them. Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches, because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans." The report goes on to present data from the city of Baltimore, where "more than half the properties subject to foreclosure on a Wells Fargo loan from 2005 to 2008 now stand vacant. And 71 percent of those are in predominantly black neighborhoods."[82]Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$125 million to subprime borrowers and US$50 million in direct down payment assistance in certain areas, for a total of US$175 million.[83][84]Failure to monitor suspected money laundering[edit]In a March 2010 agreement with US federal prosecutors, Wells Fargo acknowledged that between 2004 and 2007 Wachoviahad failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers, including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine into Mexico.[85]Overdraft fees[edit]In August 2010, Wells Fargo was fined by US District Court judge William Alsup for overdraft practices designed to "gouge" consumers and "profiteer" at their expense, and for misleading consumers about how the bank processed transactions and assessed overdraft fees.[86][87][88]Settlement and fines regarding mortgage servicing practices[edit]On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citi,JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Government and 49 states.[89]The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about US$26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in direct payments to the federal and state governments. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in US history, only trailing the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.[90]The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.On April 5, 2012, a federal judge ordered Wells Fargo to pay US$3.1 million in punitive damages over a single loan, one of the largest fines for a bank ever for mortgaging service misconduct.[91]Elizabeth Magner, a federal bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana, cited the bank's behavior as "highly reprehensible",[92]stating that Wells Fargo has taken advantage of borrowers who rely on the bank's accurate calculations. She went on to add, "perhaps more disturbing is Wells Fargo's refusal to voluntarily correct its errors. It prefers to rely on the ignorance of borrowers or their inability to fund a challenge to its demands, rather than voluntarily relinquish gains obtained through improper accounting methods."[93]SEC fine due to inadequate risk disclosures[edit]On August 14, 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay around US$6.5 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) charges that in 2007 it sold risky mortgage-backed securities without fully realizing their dangers.[94][95]Lawsuit by FHA over loan underwriting[edit]On October 9, 2012, the US Federal Government sued the bank under the False Claims Act at the federal court inManhattan, New York. The suit alleges that Wells Fargo defrauded the US Federal Housing Administration (FHA) over the past ten years, underwriting over 100,000 FHA backed loans when over half did not qualify for the program. This suit is the third allegation levied against Wells Fargo in 2012.[96]In October 2012, Wells Fargo was sued by United States Attorney Preet Bharara over questionable mortgage deals.[97]Lawsuit due to premium inflation on forced place insurance[edit]In April 2013, Wells Fargo settled a suit with 24,000 Florida homeowners alongside insurer QBE, in which Wells Fargo was accused of inflating premiums on forced-place insurance.[98]Lawsuit regarding excessive overdraft fees[edit]In May 2013, Wells Fargo paid US$203 million to settle class-action litigation accusing the bank of imposing excessiveoverdraft fees on checking-account customers. Also in May, the New York attorney-general, Eric Schneiderman, announced a lawsuit against Wells Fargo over alleged violations of the national mortgage settlement, a US$25 billion deal struck between 49 state attorneys and the five-largest mortgage servicers in the US. Schneidermann claimed Wells Fargo had violated rules over giving fair and timely serving.[64]2015 Violation of New York credit card laws[edit]In February 2015, Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$4 million for violations where an affiliate took interest in the homes of borrowers in exchange for opening credit card accounts for the homeowners. This is illegal according to New York credit card laws. There was a US$2 million penalty with the other US$2 million going towards restitution to customers.[99]Executive compensation[edit]With CEO John Stumpf being paid 473 times more than the median employee, Wells Fargo ranks number 33 among the S&P 500 companies for CEO—employee pay inequality. In October 2014, a Wells Fargo employee earning US$15 per hour emailed the CEO—copying 200,000 other employees—asking that all employees be given a US$10,000 per year raise taken from a portion of annual corporate profits to address wage stagnation and income inequality. After being contacted by the media, Wells Fargo responded that all employees receive "market competitive" pay and benefits significantly above US federal minimums.[100][101]Tax avoidance and lobbying[edit]In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Wells Fargo for spending US$11 million onlobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008–2010, instead getting US$681 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of US$49 billion, laying off 6,385 workers since 2008, and increasing executive pay by 180% to US$49.8 million in 2010 for its top five executives.[102]As of 2014 however, at an effective tax rate of 31.2% of its income, Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest payer of corporation tax in the US.[103]Prison industry investment[edit]Main article: Prison–industrial complexThe GEO Group, Inc., a multi-national provider of for-profit private prisons, received investments made by Wells Fargo mutual funds on behalf of clients, not investments made by Wells Fargo and Company, according to company statements.[104]By March 2012, its stake had grown to more than 4.4 million shares worth US$86.7 million.[105]As of November, 2012, the latest SEC filings reveal that Wells Fargo has divested 33% of its dispositive holdings of GEO's stock, which reduces Wells Fargo's holdings to 4.98% of Geo Group's common stock. By reducing its holdings to less than 5%, Wells Fargo will no longer be required to disclose some financial dealings with GEO.[106]While a coalition of organizations, National People's Action Campaign, have seen some success in pressuring Wells Fargo to divest from private prison companies like GEO Group, the company continues to make such investments.[107]SEC settlement for insider trading case[edit]In 2015, an analyst at Wells Fargo settled an insider trading case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The former employee was charged with insider trading alongside an ex-Wells Fargo trader.[108]Sadis & Goldberg obtained a settlement that permitted the client to continue in securities industry, while neither admitting nor denying one charge of negligence-based § 17(a)(3) claim, and paying a US$75,000 civil penalty[109]Wells Fargo account fraud scandal[edit]Main article: Wells Fargo account fraud scandalIn September 2016, Wells Fargo was issued a combined total of US$185 million in fines for creating over 1.5 million checking and savings accounts and 500,000 credit cards that its customers never authorized. The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued US$100 million in fines, the largest in the agency's five-year history, along with US$50 million in fines from the City and County of Los Angeles, and US$35 million in fines from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency.[110]The scandal was caused by an incentive-compensation program for employees to create new accounts. It led to the firing of nearly 5,300 employees and US$5 million being set aside for customer refunds on fees for accounts the customers never wanted.[111]Carrie Tolstedt, who headed the department, retired in July 2016 and received US$124.6 million in stock, options, and restricted Wells Fargo shares as a retirement package.[112][113]On October 12, 2016, John Stumpf, the then Chairman and CEO, announced that he would be retiring amidst the controversies involving his company. It was announced by Wells Fargo that President and Chief Operating Officer Timothy J. Sloan would succeed, effective immediately. Following the scandal, applications for credit cards and checking accounts at the bank plummeted.[114]In response to the event, the Better Business Bureau dropped accreditation of the bank,[115]S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook for Wells Fargo from stable to negative,[116]and several states and cities across the US ended business relations with the company.[117]An investigation by the Wells Fargo board of directors, the report of which was released in April 2017, primarily blamed Stumpf, whom it said had not responded to evidence of wrongdoing in the consumer services division, and Tolstedt, who was said to have knowingly set impossible sales goals and refused to respond when subordinates disagreed with them.[118]The board chose to use a clawback clause in the retirement contracts of Stumpf and Tolstedt to recover US$75 million worth of cash and stock from the former executives.[118]Racketeering lawsuit for mortgage appraisal overcharges[edit]In November 2016, Wells Fargo agreed to pay US$50 million to settle a racketeering lawsuit in which the bank was accused of overcharging hundreds of thousands of homeowners for appraisals ordered after they defaulted on their mortgage loans. While banks are allowed to charge homeowners for such appraisals, Wells Fargo frequently charged homeowners US$95 to US$125 on appraisals for which the bank had been charged US$50 or less. The plaintiffs had sought triple damages under the U S Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act on grounds that sending invoices and statements with fraudulently concealed fees constituted mail and wire fraud sufficient to allege racketeering.[119]Dakota Access Pipeline investment[edit]Wells Fargo is a lender on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile-long (1,886 km) underground oil pipeline transportsystem in North Dakota. The pipeline has been controversial regarding its potential impact on the environment.[120]In February 2017, Seattle, Washington's city council unanimously voted to not renew its contract with Wells Fargo "in a move that cites the bank's role as a lender to the Dakota Access Pipeline project as well as its "creation of millions of bogus accounts." and saying the bidding process for its next banking partner will involve "social responsibility." The City Council ofDavis, California, took a similar action voting unanimously to find a new bank to handle its accounts by the end of 2017.[121]Failure to comply with document security requirements[edit]In December 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Wells Fargo US$5.5 million for failing to store electronic documents in a "write once, read many" format, which makes it impossible to alter or destroy records after they are written.[122]Connections to the gun industry and NRA[edit]Wells Fargo is the top banker for US gun makers and the National Rifle Association (NRA). From December 2012 through February 2018 it reportedly helped two of the biggest firearms and ammunition companies obtain US$431.1 million in loans and bonds. It also created a US$28-million line of credit for the NRA and operates the organization's primary accounts.[123]In a March 2018 statement Wells Fargo said, "Any solutions on how to address this epidemic will be complicated. This is why our company believes the best way to make progress on these issues is through the political and legislative process. ... We plan to engage our customers that legally manufacture firearms and other stakeholders on what we can do together to promote better gun safety for our communities."[123]Wells Fargo's CEO subsequently said that the bank would provide its gun clients with feedback from employees and investors.[124]Discrimination against female workers[edit]Further information: Glass ceilingIn June 2018, about a dozen female Wells Fargo executives from the wealth management division met in Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss the minimal presence of women occupying senior roles within the company. The meeting, dubbed "the meeting of 12", represented the majority of the regional managing directors, of which 12 out of 45 are women.[125]Wells Fargo had previously been investigating reports of gender bias in the division in the months leading up to the meeting.[126]The women reported that they had been turned down for top jobs despite their qualifications, and instead the roles were occupied by men.[126]There were also complaints against company president Jay Welker, who is also the head of the Wells Fargo wealth management division, due to his sexist statements regarding female employees. The female workers claimed that he called them "girls" and said that they "should be at home taking care of their children."[126]Auto insurance[edit]On June 10, 2019, Wells Fargo settled a lawsuit for $ 385 million that was filed in 2017 concerning their customers andNational General Insurance.[127]CEO-to-worker pay ratio[edit]Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, publicly traded companies are required to disclose (1) the median total annual compensation of all employees other than the CEO and (2) the ratio of the CEO’s annual total compensation to that of the median employee.[128]Total 2018 compensation for Timothy J. Sloan, CEO, was $18,426,734, and total compensation for the median employee was estimated to be $65,191. The resulting pay ratio was determined to be 283:1.[129]See also[edit]San Francisco Bay Area portalCompanies portalBanks portalList of Wells Fargo directorsList of Wells Fargo presidentsWells Fargo ArenaWells Fargo Center

Undercover secret service Agent characters and able to perform successfully, has to do mainly in his belives that his actions activities us based on morale justifiable reasons to undertake missions in order to protect life of his fellow citizens against evils.Related terms:Charles A. Sennewald, Curtis Baillie, in Effective Security Management (Sixth Edition), 2016ExampleConsider a case in which the Security department contracts for the placement of an undercover agent in a warehouse for the purpose of gathering information on possible internal theft. The undercover agent’s primary employer is a contract service firm. The agent receives a salary from them as well as a regular paycheck, like every other warehouse employee, from the company that owns the warehouse. For a period of time some useful intelligence is obtained, but after a while the undercover agent becomes personally involved with other warehouse employees and the reports become valueless. Even though the agent wishes to remain employed in the warehouse, services can be terminated forthwith without violating the agent’s rights to job security, because the real (and primary) employer is the firm that sent the agent to the warehouse and is still paying the undercover salary (although it may be less than the warehouse salary).If, on the other hand, the Security department hires an applicant directly into the warehouse to serve as an undercover agent, that person would be entitled to some job protection and could not be summarily removed from the job. The use of contractual services has some very definite advantages.ect Behind the Keyboard, 2013Undercover and Informant OperationsUndercover operations in cybercrime investigations obviously will include use of electronic communication. Undercover (UC) agents email, text, and chat with suspects online to communicate. This can be in the form of the UC assuming the identity of a child to investigate child molestation cases or perhaps the UC will assume an identity of a high-tech criminal to investigate a hacker. Either method can require face-to-face interaction between the UC and criminal suspect. This interaction and investigative method will apply similarly to civil investigations.A great example of a successful undercover operation began in 1999 with the Internet Service Provider (ISP), Speakeasy Network, in Seattle, Washington. The Speakeasy Network was hacked from Russian IP addresses. The suspects contacted Speakeasy, identified themselves, and offered to not disclose Speakeasy’s flaws if Speakeasy would pay or hire them. The hackers also claimed to now possess thousands of passwords and credit card numbers from Speakeasy customers. These hackers, Alexey Ivanov and Vasily Gorshkov, continued to hack and extort businesses in this manner.The FBI conducted an intensive undercover operation, in which both Ivanov and Gorhkov agreed to enter the United States to discuss their hacking skills with FBI undercover agents. Through audio and video recorded conversations, keyloggers, sniffers, search warrants, undercover business fronts, and even setting up an undercover computer network for them to hack into, both were convicted on federal felony counts of computer fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy.All undercover operations carry an inherent risk to personal safety. As an investigative method, it also carries a need for intensive resources and skilled UC operators. The effectiveness of a successful undercover operation cannot be overstated. A benefit to being able to speak openly to a suspect while assuming the role of a criminal or conspirator allows for intelligence to be gathered exponentially faster than physical surveillance. Confessions made to an undercover are just as valid as a confession made to a uniformed officer. Future suspect activities, something not easily obtainable otherwise, can be spoken directly to the UC to which future operations can be planned.Less extreme undercover activities can be conducted requiring no more than a phone call. If a specific time and place has been identified as a source of criminal activity, a simple phone call to the suspect will place the suspect at the location at a given time. The phone call need be no more than false pretenses in which the suspect is identified by voice or name. The phone call may not definitely place the suspect at a keyboard; however, tying the suspect to the location by voice is a strong indication. For criminal activity in progress, such as a victim receiving harassing emails from a previously identified location through an IP address trace, a call can be made while the activity is occurring to identify the suspect by voice.If a suspect email address has been identified, emails can be sent to the suspect with a tracking code that obtains the local IP address of the suspect, and then sends the date and time of the email being accessed along with the IP address of the suspect computer. These tracking codes are invisible to most users and email programs, but pose risk of compromise should the code be identified by the suspect through a warning from anti-virus software.Undercover operations coupled with surveillance may also be necessary in order to obtain evidence not able to be obtained otherwise. If a suspect obscures his IP address through any means, without having physical access to the system used in crimes, close contact with the suspect may be required. This contact could be in the form of befriending the suspect in hopes of having information disclosed to the UC. Even only if the manner of hiding the IP address was disclosed, investigative methods to counter the IP address hiding method could be conducted.Informant operations pose the same risks to safety and compromise of the investigation with the added danger of informants being untrained. Informants havevaried reasons for cooperating with law enforcement and not every reason is trustworthy. In many cases, informants are developed from cases, in which the arrested suspects agree to cooperate in consideration for lesser charges. Such was the case of Hector Xavier Monsegur, in June 2011, when he was arrested by the FBI. Monsegur agreed to work for the FBI as an informant, and in doing so, helped the FBI successfully investigate multiple hackers as conspirators. Although Monsegur did agree to cooperate, he also pleaded guilty to a multitude of computer crime charges.Probably the biggest benefit to using informants in a cybercrime investigation is being able to take advantage of this past history and contacts with other cybercriminals. Their reputations may be known and few, if any associates would suspect their long-time partner-in-crime to be working for law enforcement. Undercover officers enter without a history or known accomplices, unless an informant is used to vouch for the undercover officer.Dario Forte, Andrea de Donno, in Handbook of Digital Forensics and Investigation, 2010Investigations of Mobile SystemsInvestigations used to be carried out exclusively by people. In the pure spirit of investigation, you started from information obtained through an undercover agent followed by operations involving trailing suspects and intercepting ordinary mail. Without the help of technological systems, these investigations tended to last much longer than their more modern counterparts.Today, the initiation of an investigation may involve, in addition to verbal information, an anomalous bank record, an image from a surveillance camera, or of course highly visible crimes such as theft or murder.The first phase of the investigation involves interviewing people who may have relevant information and continues with monitoring the means of communication of suspects or others associated in some way with the case. In addition to the traditional telephone, there are other monitoring points such as electronic mailboxes, places visited by the suspect, Telepass accounts (devices used for automatic highway toll payment), credit card accounts, and other financial operations.Nowadays, investigations are supported by software that is customized to meet different requirements. The investigator enters all the data available on a subject into the interception system and the server performs a thorough analysis, generating a series of connections via the mobile devices involved, the calls made or received, and so on, providing criminal police with a well-defined scheme on which to focus the investigation, and suggesting new hypotheses or avenues that might otherwise be hard to identify. Obviously, thanks to the support of the NSP, the data can be supplemented with historical information or other missing data such as other mobile devices connected to a given BTS on a given date and time. Data can also be provided for public payphones, which are often used to coordinate crimes. Again, thanks to a connection with the NSP, it is possible to obtain a historical record of telephone calls made and the location of the payphone with respect to other mobile devices. The same sort of record may also be obtained for highway travel using Telepass (conventional name for automatic wireless toll payment), including average speed and stops.Having historical data of various kinds relating to an investigation accessible in a database can greatly assist the initial examination of a newly acquired mobile device. By extracting all telephone numbers in the phonebook of a mobile device seized during a search and entering names and numbers into the electronic system, digital investigators perform powerful analysis even in the initial phases of the investigation thanks to cross-referencing capabilities. For instance, investigative tools support advanced entity and relation searches, including the nicknames from phonebooks to locate additional related activities. In addition, some investigative tools enable digital investigators to perform traffic analysis, including georeferenced data and diagram generation as shown in Figure 10.2.Figure 10.2. Cellular telephone tracking software, showing the relative movements of two mobile devices over a given period of time.It is thus very important to have investigation software that can quickly import data online (secure and confidential connection with the MC) or from optical media, and that offers flexibility in subsequent processing.Charles A. Sennewald, Curtis Baillie, in Effective Security Management (Sixth Edition), 2016Coordinate with Security on Major or Important InvestigationsThere are occasions when a criminal case would be impossible to conclude successfully without the cooperative effort of both the private and public sectors. A dramatic example of such a case occurred in Los Angeles. Investigators for a chain of department stores learned that a large number of employees and nonemployees were working together in a concerted effort to remove merchandise from the department store’s warehouse. Most of the participants were identified, videos were taken of some of the theft activity, and an undercover agent was successfully placed in the midst of the group by the Security department to provide a flow of intelligence. The department store then went to the local authorities (in this particular case, the District Attorney’s office) for assistance.In a coordinated effort, the following actions occurred. A small electrical supply and service store was obtained about two miles from the warehouse. It was wired for voice recordings. A panel truck equipped with a 16-mm motion picture camera (before the sophisticated video cameras we have today) was parked behind the store. Two investigators from the District Attorney’s office posed as owners of the store and one manned the camera vehicle. Department store investigators secretly marked the kind of merchandise the undercover agent had indicated would be stolen the next day. Through the undercover agent, word was passed to the thieves that there was a new “fence” in the area (the electrical supply store). The department store provided the money to buy the goods. In a short time, regular trips were made to the back door of the “fence,” and investigators were buying stolen merchandise marked by other investigators the night before. The transactions were visually and audibly recorded by the hidden camera.A grand total of 27 culprits were either indicted and arrested, arrested and referred to juvenile authorities, or, in those cases in which a public offense could not be established, discharged from the company.A case of this complexity and magnitude could not have been resolved so successfully had it not been for the cooperation between private security and law enforcement. Criminal investigations provide frequent opportunities for this effective interaction.In Hiding Behind the Keyboard, 2016The Intended AudienceLaw enforcement officers, criminal investigators, and civil investigators are the intended audience simply because they usually confront covert communications in their positions. In actuality, many of these professionals may not even be aware of the covert communications that are already occurring in their investigations. When you do not know what you do not know, you will almost always miss critical evidence and information.Throughout this book, both these terms “suspects” and “targets” are used for the persons involved in covert communications you wish to investigate. The term target is used not as a political or tactical point other than a “target” being the subject of your investigation. A target can be a terrorist, criminal, or corporate spy for whom you want to uncover covert communications.As a practical matter, every person fitting within this intended audience should be well-versed in technology as it relates to communication. The criminals and terrorists of today exploit every means to communicate covertly and anonymously, and most involve technology. To delay learning the methods being used is to delay effectively investigating your targets.NoteHiding Behind the KeyboardJust because your targets use complex methods of covert communication does not mean you cannot use the same methods! Witnesses, informants, agents, undercover officers, and other persons should use secure communications to protect their identities and the information exchanged.Duration of Relevance for This GuideSimilar to Placing the Suspect Behind the Keyboard, this book has been written as a guide to outlast technology advances. Although technology changes constantly by employing the principles in this guide, you should be able to transfer what becomes old technology to the latest technology. It is mastering concepts and principles that are most important in becoming a great investigator.As for the technical information in the book, similar to other technologies, what is possible today may not be possible tomorrow and conversely, what is impossible today may be possible in the future. Simply some things get harder, and other things get easier. Either way, you are reading a book with tools to deal with both situations.Read full chapterView PDFChristopher Burgess, Richard Power, in Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost, 2008IntroductionAs the Haephrati case discussed in Chapter 1 illustrates, the theft of trade secrets and other intellectual property has expanded beyond classic industrial age espionage (largely focused on the turning of insiders) to include information age espionage (e.g., hacking into networks or using targeted malware). And it is also true, as has been previously noted, that the severity of the insider threat is often disproportionately emphasized in relation to the severity of the outsider threat.Nevertheless, much illegal activity, particularly in the arenas of economic espionage and trade secret theft, is still predicated on, or instigated by, insiders of one kind or another. Furthermore, this is true regardless of whether the criminal behavior is cyber-based or grounded in the physical world.Four stories from the United States, Korea, and Canada (all of which broke within a period of several weeks in 2006) underscore both the threat from inside, and its diverse manifestations:“The U.S. attorney in Detroit … announced charges of stealing trade secrets against three former employees of an auto supplier, saying economic espionage stabs at the heart of the Michigan economy and is a growing priority among his federal prosecutors. The former employees of Metaldyne Corp., arraigned in U.S. District Court after a 64-count grand jury indictment was unsealed, are accused of stealing the Plymouth, Mich., company’s trade secrets and sharing them with Chinese competitors. They each face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted. Metaldyne, which has 45 plants in 14 countries, makes a wide range of auto parts for engines, drive trains and chassis systems. The company has annual sales of $2 billion and about 6,500 employees.” (Trade-secret theft charged in Detroit, Baltimore Sun, 7-6-06)“US authorities last night charged three people with a cloak-and-dagger scheme to sell secrets from Coca-Cola to soft drink archrival PepsiCo, which helped in the investigation …. The offer of ‘confidential’ information from Coca-Cola sparked an FBI investigation with an undercover agent offering $US1.5 million dollars in cash. The investigation was launched after PepsiCo turned over to its cola rival a letter in May from a person identifying himself as ‘Dirk,’ who claimed to be employed at a high level with Coca-Cola and offered ‘very detailed and confidential information,’ a US Justice Department statement said. According to authorities, an FBIundercover agent met on June 16 with Dimson, who was posing as ‘Dirk’ at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. Dimson gave the agent ‘a brown Armani Exchange bag containing one manila envelope with documents marked ‘highly confidential’ and one glass bottle with a white label containing a liquid product sample,’ the statement said.” (FBI lays charges on Coke secrets, The Australian, 7-6-06)“About a half of Korea’s top technology firms have suffered from leaks in industrial know-how one way or another over the past three years, although the companies have increased preventive measures, a report showed. According to the report released the Korea Industrial Technology Association on Monday, 11 of 20 Korean firms that had invested the most in research & development have suffered financial damage due to technology leaks in the past three years. When taking into account smaller firms, 20.9 percent out of 459 firms said that they suffered from industrial espionage cases during the period. The rate is 6.4 percentage points higher than three years ago, meaning that firms have become more vulnerable to technology theft …. As Roh pointed out, about 65 percent of the reported cases were found to involve employees from former companies. Only 18 percent and 16 percent of the cases involved current employees and subcontractors of the firms, respectively… The survey was done on 459 firms with in-house R&D departments.” (Cho Jin-seo, Half of Top Tech Firms Suffer Leaks, Korea Times, 6-19-06)“Intelligence files reportedly suggest that an estimated 1,000 Chinese agents and informants operate in Canada. Many of them are visiting students, scientists and business people, told to steal cutting-edge technology. An example being touted as copied technology is China’s Redberry—an imitation of the Blackberry portable e-mail device, created by Waterloo, Ont.-based Research in Motion Ltd …. Juneau-Katsuya said the former Liberal government knew of the espionage, but were too afraid to act. ‘We didn’t want to piss off or annoy the Chinese,’ said Juneau-Katsuya, who headed the agency’s Asian desk. ‘(They’re) too much of an important market.’ However, he argued that industrial espionage affects Canada’s employment levels. ‘For every $1 million that we lose in intellectual property or business, we lose about 1,000 jobs in Canada,’ he said.” (Robert Fife, Government “concerned” about Chinese espionage, Catch Up On Full Episodes For Free News, 4-14-06)Without a robust, twenty-first century Personnel Security program, it won’t matter how much or how well you invest in Information Security, or how fool-proof and high-tech your Physical Security has become, because the perpetrators that will take advantage of your weak or nonexisting Personnel Security program will already be inside both your physical and cyber perimeters.In this chapter, we will highlight some of the most important aspects of what should be in your enterprise’s Personnel Security program, including an overall checklist of the top 20 controls mapped to ISO, and guidelines for background checks (Figure 10.1 illustrates the “hit ratio”—the information discrepancies uncovered during background screening), data, termination procedures, and a travel security program.Figure 10.1. Background Checks Reveal Vital Insights That Offer a Subtle Return on Investment—They Mitigate Risk and Limit LossesView chapterPurchase bookMarius-Christian Frunza, in Introduction to the Theories and Varieties of Modern Crime in Financial Markets, 20163.1 Focus on DerivativesThe role of derivatives is less studied and less well known in the money-laundering process. A basic laundering mechanism is the execution through a brokerage house of a long and short position on the same asset (buying and selling the same future contract or buying a call option and a put option or buying and selling a vanilla swap). The broker will pay the client for the position ending up in the money with clean money and will cancel in his records the out of the money transaction to avoid any audit trail. Technically only the transaction fee and the broker’s margin are costs for the client dealing with illegal funds, but in this way they manage to obtain proof of origin for the funds.Bank of Credit and Commerce International— The First Money LaunderingBackgroundFounded in 1972 by the Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi, and having Bank of America as the main shareholder, BCCI became at one time the biggest private bank in the world. Incorporated in Luxembourg BCCI operated from London and Karachi. From the 1980s the bank became a main platform for global money laundering and was under scrutiny from many regulators and law enforcers.Derivatives and money launderingA well-known example is that of the Bank of Credit and Commerce Internationala and its derivatives arm Capcom led by Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar, who explained the above scheme to undercover Agent Robert Mazur from US customs in 1988. Agent Mazur testified how Akbar used pairs of long short trades that was called “mirror image” trading to launder huge sums of money. Mirror image trading involved two accounts controlled by the same person and the bank was buying contracts for one account while selling an equal number from another account. Since both accounts are controlled by the same individual any profit or loss is effectively netted. One main advantage of this strategy is that being a zero-sum game it can pass under the radar of auditors among many millions of dollars worth of legitimate transactions, thereby making it untraceable.bTriviaUntil its fall in 1991, the BCCI served many dictators and criminal groups including the ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the Medelin Cartels. The CIA also held accounts with the bank to fund the Afghan resistance against the Soviet army, the forerunner of modern Talibans.The mirror trading scheme was also favored by a regulation concerning bunched orders of derivatives, which are orders entered by an account manager that are executed as a block and allocated after execution to customers so the trades may be cleared and for post trade allocation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulation 1.35(a1) allowed a derivatives broker to not identify his client’s trade allocations during a trading session. The broker could do this in the post trade without specific rules. This specific regulation allowed all types of misconduct in the derivative world including money laundering.The regulation in the United States changed in 2012 when the CFTC imposed new rules on time limits for bunched orders, requiring that bunched orders be allocated as soon as practicable after execution, but also providing absolute deadlines by which allocation must occur. For trades that are cleared, allocation must occur sufficiently before the end of the day the order is executed to identify the ultimate customer for each trade. Account managers are forbidden from giving any account or group of accounts consistently favorable or unfavorable treatment relative to other accounts, in order to reduce the risk of mirror trades.If the cleared derivatives market requires strict monitoring of its participants, the OTC derivatives market offers more maneuver for launderers.3.1.1 OTC DerivativesOTC derivatives are bilateral agreements between two counterparties, that are not traded or executed on an exchange. In some cases, OTC deals can be registered via an exchange without the margin mechanism. Compared to the listed derivatives which are standardized, the OTC products are tailored depending on the needs of the two counterparties. The warning signals in these type of transactions are in the following situations:•The features of the OTC derivative are very different from the cleared versions. A swap with a premium at initiation is generally not a sign of confidence. The Goldman’s Sachs swap offer to the Greek treasury is one example of a derivative used as for malpractice. But in reality this type of instrument can hide other fund exchanges in a laundering scheme.•There is no economic basis for explaining that derivative. As an example a small retail enterprise based in Wales with all costs and revenues indexed in GBP, enter in an OTC Forex forward on YEN/CAD. In these cases, the OTC derivative can justify a one-time payment or flow. Not being marked to market regularly the settlement can occur whenever a fund needs to be transferred.•The valuation of the derivative is sophisticated and uses models which are based on traders’ opinions (Level 3 assets). An example can be a Swiss trading company entering in an OTC accumulator option2 on chrome prices with a Russian metal exporter. As the chrome market is illiquid with not many derivatives listed, the pricing of such a product is almost impossible. This ambiguity can be used to justify a fund transfer between the two firms, part of a laundering scam.Figure 1 shows a simple example of money laundering using OTC derivatives. A criminal group owning a company seeded with illegal funds makes an investment with a specialized firm. This firm does not need to be a financial company, and could easily be a trading house or an importer exporter. The investment firms purchase in OTC exotic derivative products from offshore firms. Sporadic settlements based on “mark to model” (“mark to mob”) justify a fund transfer to the offshore firm. The offshore firm has the same OTC derivative back to back with another counterparty controlled by the crime group, but with a clean record. The same “mark to mob” valuation justifies the transfer of funds to the counterparty resulting in clean funds. The very same scheme is used currently by firms to reduce their tax bills in countries with high taxation rates.Welcomehttps://www.sciencedirect.com/user/login?returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Ftopics%2Fcomputer-science%2Fundercover-agentFigure 1. Money-laundering OTC derivatives: Placement: A criminal group owning a company seeded with illegal funds makes an investment with a specialized firm. This firm does not need to be a financial company, and could easily be a trading house or an importer exporter. The investment firms purchase OTC exotic derivative products from offshore firms.Layering: Sporadic settlements based on “mark to model” (“mark to mob”) justify a fund transfer to the offshore firm. The offshore firm has the same OTC derivative back to back with another counterparty controlled by the crime group, but with a clean record.Insertion: The same “mark to mob” valuation justifies the transfer of funds to the counterparty resulting in clean funds.View chapterPurchase bookPolice, Sociology ofPolice as a formal institution of social control, organized within the framework of the nation state, emerged during the course of the eighteenth and …https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767020040H.-J. Albrecht, D. Nogala, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 20012 Determining the SubjectAt first glance and seen from the surface it seems rather trivial to determine who and what constitutes ‘the police.’ One would expect that the police as a public institution is represented by (sworn) officers, i.e., representatives of the state and its government, who are (often) specially trained professionals and are invested with certain powers (like the authority to search or arrest a person). Usually this ‘apparent’ kind of police will appear in public as officers on the beat, a crew in a patrol car, behind a desk in a police station, or as plain-clothes detectives, doing investigations in the field. This is the common and popular image (in the Western world) of what police actually are, transmitted by the media and supported by occasional ordinary encounters. From time to time this picture is widened by the appearance of riot police in full gear, underlining the state's authorization and capability of using legitimately physical force against disobedient citizens or rioting crowds.When one looks again at who and what constitutes police, the semblance becomes more complicated: on the level of involved actors it becomes apparent that a good portion of the workforce employed by police consists of civilian staff, like secretaries or the clerks in the forensic laboratories; some sworn officers, such as staff who are responsible for conducting statistical analysis of criminal incidents or running a computer program for matching data, are rarely out in the field, while certain field officers, like undercover agents or specialists in charge of surveillance of telecommunication, often do not act openly as police. Furthermore there are other state agents who, having similar powers of investigation or intervention, perform certain functions of policing, but are not seen or labeled as ‘police.’ One might think here of custom officers, secret agents, public health inspectors, or prison guards. Still others appear in a policelike guise but are clearly not officers (at least lacking their full powers): city wardens, commercial guards and patrols, hired investigators, vigilante organizations like the ‘Guardian Angels,’ bodyguards, stewards in a football stadium, or bouncers.As professionals trained to use force legitimately in the name of the state's power, police share this somewhat exclusive right with the military and other law enforcement officials (prison, customs). But on the level of routine work processes, this distinguishing feature is a rather rare event compared to the overall picture of police duties. Instead, research has shown that a considerable part of the modern police workload is not at all focused on crime control and investigation of criminal cases, but consists of responding to general emergency calls, mediating conflicts, regulating motor vehicle traffic, and communication with other institutions or agencies like social services, insurance companies, etc.Although it might be clear from a commonsense point of view, what ‘police’ actually are—basically that formal institution which is vested with the powers and resources to respond to criminal acts or public order disturbances and calls itself ‘police’—the subject in question gets more diverse, the more we see it from a perspective of a peculiar organized social activity rather than as a matter of institutionalism. Thus a true ‘sociology of policing’ would cover a wider area and embrace more organizations than the initial ‘police studies.’But even from an institutional approach one has to speak of ‘the police’ either from a very abstract level or from a single case point of view only. Besides the common similarities in terms of historical developments, organizational models, practical strategies and tactics, and legal accountabilities, every country's police system has its own particularities and unique arrangement of forces.It should not be overlooked that police as a subject of sociological interest is linked in many ways with other social systems, all of them carrying their own, often overlapping, bodies of literature: as an instrument of executive governance ‘the police’ can be seen as a segment of the sociology of the state. Its quality of being an important part of the criminal justice system and its more or less explicit legal bindings does make it a component of the sociology of law. Last but not least, on the level of empirical studies there are clear ties to the field of organizational sociology.View chapterPurchase bookCopyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. or its licensors or contributors. ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.