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THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DARK WEB FRAUD TRADE
The dark web is often seen as a mysterious and malevolent creature. But, in reality, the dark web is home to an incredibly organized and thriving criminal ecosystem with similarities to legitimate businesses.
Concept/Inspiration: The Onion Router (TOR)
A bright green onion on a light background represents the non-threatening feel of a legitimate enterprise. I added a binary Matrix-like pattern and broke typography rules with vertical text for a sense of movement and an impression of "behind the curtain", shady activity.
WIRECARD'S HOUSE TUMBLES
Dan McCrum, an investigative reporter for the Financial Times, spent six years questioning the finances of Wirecard, Germany's moneymaking payments processor. Fraudulent Wirecard would strike back against McCrum and his wife with smear campaigns, lawsuits, and surveillance. But eventually his efforts to expose Wirecard paid off.
Concept/Inspiration: "Greed is a very effective blindfold."
The quote above is from Dan McCrum during his interview with our editor Paul Kilby. When I read that and saw the photos from the talented photographer, Thai Hibbert, I knew my direction immediately, blind greed. I used black blocks throughout the copy to represent redactions and blindfolds. I added a spiral designs in the background throughout to create a vertigo feeling and represent the crazy rabbit hole McCrum and his wife found themselves falling down. I also included very light impressions of the Euro as a watermark of greed.
Photography credit:
Thai Hibbert
ERON: TWENTY YEARS LATER
When Eron declared bankruptcy, governmental and media investigations led to criminal and civil trials of Eron executives. U.S. legislation ensued. This interview with Sherron Watkins explores whether or not we learned any lessons from the collapse of this powerful corporation.
Concept/Inspiration: The woman herself, Sherron Watkins
My main objective for this article was to portray Sherron Watkins as the confident, no-nonsense, and powerhouse woman she presents in person. To accomplish this, I used mostly photos of her standing and daringly looking directly at the camera. I added diagonal graphic elements for drama and tension with black, gray, and red as the colors for a touch of late 90s early 2000s nostalgia.
Photography credit:
Drew Anthony Smith
FLYING THE COMPANY JET TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN
This article covers how some corporate leaders can exhibit an “Icarus complex"; through fraudulent activities they rise quickly within an organization. If these fraudulent actions are not detected, they ultimately plummet and take their companies with them.
Concept/Inspiration: The Icarus Fable and Moby Dick
The Icarus fable and Moby Dick are used throughout this article as metaphors describing the overambitious behavior of these leaders. I chose a storybook-like illustrative concept of a businessman falling from a plane, while below a white whale waits patiently to devour him. For the figure of the "Model of Destructive Leadership Behavior," I carried the nautical feel through with a compass representing our own ethical compasses.
WALKING THROUGH THE SIDE DOOR:
EUPHEMISMS BREAKDOWN ETHICAL BARRIERS
Euphemisms are often used to rationalize fraudsters' crimes. This article explains how fraud examiners can use these euphemisms to detect fraud in an organization and elicit confessions.
Concept/Inspiration: Comical Rationale
A comic strip represents the duality and the almost comical rationale behind these euphemisms. I used black and white to represent the unfavorable, fraudulent term and full color to represent the more socially, palatable euphemism as a side-by-side comparison of each.
