---
title: Inside Deconflict: Bridging Law Enforcement and Banking
source_page: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/financial-crime-deconflict
canonical: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/financial-crime-deconflict
format: text/markdown
date: 2026-07-08T11:00:00.000Z
description: How financial crime deconflict connects law enforcement and banking via financial crime intelligence, bank sharing, and faster mule network investigations…
---

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# Inside Deconflict: Bridging Law Enforcement and Banking

**Published:** 2026-07-08T11:00:00.000Z

How financial crime deconflict connects law enforcement and banking via financial crime intelligence, bank sharing, and faster mule network investigations…

What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward!
In this episode, I’m sitting down with Mudassar Malik, Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service and Founder and CEO of Deconflict.com, to talk about something our industry needs to get a whole lot better at: financial crime deconflict.
Money mule networks do not care where one institution’s visibility ends and another one begins. Pig butchering scams, romance scams, business email compromise, BEC fraud, account takeover, wire fraud, they all move across people, accounts, institutions, platforms, and jurisdictions. Meanwhile, too many of us are still trying to solve pieces of the same case from opposite sides of the wall.
Mudassar walks us through what happens when law enforcement and banking actually have a better way to connect investigative intelligence, share what they are seeing, and recognize when different teams may be looking at the same financial crime pattern from different angles.
This episode is not about sharing everything with everybody. It is about better fraud response, better financial crime intelligence, and better collaboration between the people who are already fighting the same criminal networks. Because if a credit union, a community bank, a larger institution, and law enforcement are all seeing pieces of the same mule activity, but nobody can connect those pieces fast enough, the criminals keep moving. And the victims keep paying for it.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Why financial crime deconflict matters for banks, credit unions, fintechs, and law enforcement
How the Deconflict platform helps connect investigative intelligence across financial crime cases
Why money mule networks, pig butchering scams, romance scams, and BEC fraud require cross-institutional visibility
Where 314(b)d information sharing fits into the larger fraud response conversation
Why financial institution fraud prevention cannot stop at the edge of one institution’s data
How law enforcement data sharing can help fraud fighters move from isolated cases to connected intelligence
What teams can take back to think differently about collaboration and case escalation
You should listen to this episode if you:
Work in fraud, BSA, AML, investigations, or financial crime intelligence at a bank or credit union
Are trying to improve financial institution fraud prevention without adding more disconnected alerts
Support fraud response for scams, mule activity, business email compromise, or suspicious account movement
Want a better way to think about law enforcement data sharing and investigative collaboration
Episode notes:
### Financial crime deconflict helps teams see the shared pattern 
Most financial crime investigations start with a wire, an account, a victim story, a suspicious transaction, a member sitting across from you, or a case that feels familiar but not quite connected.
Financial crime deconflict is about connecting those pieces before they stay trapped inside separate investigations. If one institution is looking at mule activity, another institution is seeing business email compromise, and law enforcement is seeing a romance scam. The real question is: how do we know we are not all working the same case in isolation?
That is where a Deconflict platform gives fraud fighters and investigators a way to identify overlap, coordinate more intelligently, and move faster when the same financial crime pattern is showing up in multiple places. When teams build better pathways for investigative intelligence, they can start seeing more of the picture before the damage spreads.
### Law enforcement data sharing can speed up fraud response 
Fraud response is a race against movement. Once money is gone, every hour matters, every handoff matters, and every delay gives criminals more room to recruit new mules and shift the pattern somewhere else.
When financial institutions and law enforcement can connect around the right information, at the right moment, with the right controls, it becomes less about one institution chasing one transaction and more about identifying the network behind the activity.
A single case may involve a suspicious account, a mule account receiving funds, a BEC fraud pattern that touches multiple institutions, or a scam where the emotional manipulation started weeks or months earlier. This is not about replacing human judgment. It is about giving the people doing the work a better way to find each other when their cases are connected.
### 314(b) information sharing belongs in the collaboration conversation 
314(b) information sharing allows participating financial institutions to share information with one another to better identify and report potential money laundering or terrorist activity. In fraud investigations, many scam and mule patterns have financial crime overlap.
Money moves. Accounts connect. Victims are targeted. The practical takeaway is this: collaboration needs structure.
Fraud fighters need clear procedures, trained staff, legal and compliance alignment, documented controls, a shared understanding of what can and cannot be exchanged, and a way to connect investigative intelligence without creating unnecessary risk.
### Fraud investigation platforms should help teams connect, not just collect 
Fraud fighters need connection. Can the platform help teams understand whether activity touches another investigation? Can it help law enforcement and financial institutions identify overlap? Can it surface a shared pattern across money mule networks or scam typologies without making investigators manually stitch everything together from scratch?
That is the bigger value of a fraud investigation platform built around deconfliction. It is not just another place to put case notes. It is a way to make investigative intelligence more actionable.
Teams have already spent years improving detection inside their own walls. But the next stage is bigger than one institution’s queue. Criminals already operate across institutions. Fraud intelligence has to get better at doing the same responsibly, with the right controls and guardrails.
### What fraud teams can take back Monday morning 
If you are listening to this episode and wondering where to start, start with the questions.
Bring this conversation back to you fraud, BSA, AML, risk, and investigation teams. Ask when your team knows a case may connect to another institution or law enforcement investigation. Ask how law enforcement outreach works. Ask whether your team is using 314(b) information sharing and whether staff understand the process.
Then look at the scam typologies showing up most often: money mule networks, pig butchering scams, romance scams, business email compromise, BEC fraud, or something else. Where does fraud response slow down because the team cannot see enough of the network? What investigative intelligence would have helped earlier?
That is the Monday morning work. Not fancy. Not theoretical. Just honest. Because fraud prevention is customer service. It is victim support. And increasingly, it is shared intelligence.
### Key takeaways
Financial crime deconflict helps fraud fighters, financial institutions, and law enforcement identify when separate investigations may be connected.
Fraud intelligence sharing matters because criminals move across institutions faster than most organizations can coordinate.
Law enforcement data sharing can help teams respond faster when funds are moving through mule accounts, crypto wallets, or multiple financial institutions.
314(b) information sharing needs clear procedures, trained staff, legal alignment, and documented controls.
A Deconflict platform can help investigators surface overlap, connect related cases, and make investigative intelligence more actionable.
Money mule networks, pig butchering scams, romance scams, business email compromise, and BEC fraud often require cross-institution visibility.
Fraud investigation platforms should help teams connect intelligence, not just collect case notes.
Financial institution fraud prevention is moving beyond one organization’s queue toward responsible, shared intelligence.
The Monday morning question for fraud, BSA, AML, and risk teams is simple: what intelligence do we wish we had earlier, and how do we build a better path to find it?
### Final takeaway
Financial crime deconflict is not just a law enforcement concept. It is a fraud-fighting mindset.
When banks, credit unions, fintechs, and law enforcement stay isolated, criminals benefit. When we build better ways to connect cases, share appropriate information, and recognize the networks behind the activity, we give ourselves a better chance to move faster and protect more people.
A rising tide lifts all boats. And in financial crime intelligence, that tide is collaboration.
Stay vigilant, stay informed, and keep moving fraud forward.
Episode resources & links:
Connect with Mudassar Malik | LinkedIn
Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service | Founder/CEO @ Deconflict.com
Connect with Hailey Windham, CFCS | LinkedIn
Host of the Fraud Forward Podcast
Banking Community Lead at Sardine
Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS)
2023 Credit Union Rockstar, CU Magazine
Continuous Improvement Award, SAFE Federal Credit Union, 2023
Top 20 Professionals Under 40, The Sumter Item, 2022