Page 6 - Carbon Frauds and Corruption

CARBON FRAUD No laughing matter...

The "Carbon World" is distinguished by
an inadequate understanding of risks and
by poor systems that do not resist fraud,
corruption and other abuses.

The utter astonishment with which the
European Union reacted to the massive
VAT fraud is an illustration of poor risk
assessment and naivety but such failings
are not unique. The UNFCCC published
the specification of the Community
International Transaction Log on
the Internet which gratuitously gave
away the information hackers needed.

So it was unsurprising when, in early 2010,
hackers sent e-mails to several companies in
Europe, Japan and New Zealand, appearing
to originate from the Potsdam-based German
Emissions Trading Authority which is part
of the European Union's emission trading
scheme. Ironically the e-mails said that
the recipients needed to re-register on the
agency's website to counter the threat of
hackers! Emission allowances, amounting to
multi-million Euros, were transferred to other
accounts from which they were quickly resold.

The "Carbon World" is high risk

“ I wish I had never heard of carbon trading”

OUR POSITION
We know fraud when we see it
We are not scientists, climatologists or even politicians and certainly not qualified to
give an expert opinion on the merits of the argument but we are sure that many people
involved – on both sides of the divide - are genuine and well-meaning.

Our concern is that while attention is distracted by the Global Warming dispute
and focused on abatement and questionable emission metrics:
• Honest people and organisations will increasingly become the victims
of serious fraud by organised criminal groups, investment scamsters
and opportunists

• The true benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes
will be discredited by poor performance and false reporting.

Moreover, any mistake on either side of the dispute will be seized upon and
Fraud destroys the credibility magnified to discredit the other.
of good work
Thus fraud prevention becomes an absolute priority for
everyone involved in the 'Carbon World'.

Page 03 - © Cobasco Group Limited 2010