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CFCS study lessons

Certified Financial Crime Specialist — 25 free, citation-backed lessons covering every exam domain. Read on any device, no login.

Start with Lesson 01 →
  1. 01Welcome & How to Pass the CFCS ExamMeet your roadmap to the Certified Financial Crime Specialist exam. Learn the scenario-based format, the 13 ACFCS content areas, and the learn-test-review loop that turns public-source study into exam readiness.5 min read
  2. 02What 'Financial Crime' Really Means: The Unified ViewCFCS rewards a connected, follow-the-money mindset. Master predicate offenses, the financial-crime lifecycle, and why the exam treats laundering, fraud, corruption, and sanctions as one ecosystem.4 min read
  3. 03How Money Laundering Works: Placement, Layering, IntegrationLock in the three classic laundering stages with concrete red flags and detection points, anchored in the Bank Secrecy Act and FATF. The most heavily tested foundation in the exam.5 min read
  4. 04Laundering Typologies & Money/Commodities FlowsRecognize the patterns the exam loves: trade-based laundering, shell companies, smurfing, hawala, and commodity flows. Learn to name the typology from a messy scenario.5 min read
  5. 05Terrorist Financing & Proliferation FinancingUnderstand why TF flips the question from source to use, how funnel accounts and charity abuse work, and the UN and FATF standards behind targeted financial sanctions.4 min read
  6. 06The Fraud Triangle & Occupational FraudMaster the fraud triangle and the occupational-fraud tree from ACFE research. Learn why opportunity is the side your controls can shrink, and how tips drive detection.5 min read
  7. 07Financial-Statement & Internal FraudSpot revenue-recognition schemes, hidden liabilities, and the control overrides behind internal fraud, plus the Sarbanes-Oxley and COSO governance backstops the exam expects.5 min read
  8. 08Consumer, Payment & Identity FraudRecognize account takeover, synthetic identity, and elder financial exploitation, and connect each scheme to the right control, FinCEN advisory, and SAR filing.5 min read
  9. 09Bribery & Corruption: FCPA FoundationsDecode the FCPA's two halves, anti-bribery and books-and-records, the elements of a violation, the narrow facilitation exception, and why third parties create the real exposure.5 min read
  10. 10Global Anti-Corruption: UK Bribery Act & OECDContrast the FCPA with the UK Bribery Act 2010, including its section 7 'failure to prevent' offence and 'adequate procedures' defence, and place the OECD Convention and PEP risk in context.5 min read
  11. 11Sanctions Fundamentals: OFAC, UN & EUBuild your sanctions foundation: OFAC's strict-liability regime, the SDN List, blocking versus rejecting, and the exam-favorite 50 Percent Rule across the major global programs.4 min read
  12. 12Sanctions Screening, Evasion & EnforcementLearn how screening, fuzzy matching, and false positives really work, the evasion typologies criminals use, and how OFAC enforcement and voluntary self-disclosure play out.4 min read
  13. 13Tax Evasion, FATCA & CRSDistinguish illegal evasion from lawful avoidance, see how tax crime became an ML predicate, and master FATCA reporting and the OECD Common Reporting Standard.4 min read
  14. 14Cybercrime & the Financial-Crime NexusTreat cybercrime as financial crime: ransomware's AML and sanctions traps, business email compromise, dark-web rails, and where crypto laundering meets blockchain analytics.4 min read
  15. 15Data Privacy & Information Security for InvestigatorsNavigate GDPR's lawful basis and data minimization, the no-tipping-off rule, and lawful sharing gateways like 314(b) and Egmont, so your investigations stay effective and defensible.4 min read
  16. 16Money Services Businesses & Emerging PaymentsDefine MSBs and their BSA duties, understand why agent networks and cash flows raise risk, and see how prepaid, mobile, and real-time payments compress the detection window.4 min read
  17. 17Virtual Assets, Crypto & the Travel RuleUnderstand VASP obligations, why crypto is pseudonymous rather than anonymous, the FATF Travel Rule, and the mixers and chain-hopping that blockchain analytics can often pierce.4 min read
  18. 18Investigative Methodology & IntelligenceTurn alerts into defensible conclusions. Separate information, intelligence, and evidence, run a hypothesis-driven intelligence cycle, and plug into the FIU and Egmont network.4 min read
  19. 19Evidence, Interviewing & Source AnalysisProtect evidence with an unbroken chain of custody, understand admissibility, interview with rapport and a plan, and grade your sources for reliability before you rely on them.4 min read
  20. 20Public Records, OSINT & Following the MoneyUse public records and OSINT lawfully, pierce beneficial ownership under the CDD Rule and FATF, and trace funds with timelines and flow diagrams that hold up in a SAR or court.4 min read
  21. 21International Standards: FATF, Egmont, Wolfsberg & BaselMap the global architecture, who sets standards, links FIUs, shapes bank practice, and supervises, so confusing cross-border scenarios resolve cleanly on exam day.4 min read
  22. 22Building a Financial-Crime Compliance ProgramAssemble the program that operationalizes every rule: the BSA pillars, the risk-based approach, and the KYC, CDD, and EDD chain that knows and re-knows your customer.4 min read
  23. 23Risk Assessment, Controls & Reporting (SARs/CTRs)Connect enterprise risk assessment to control design and reporting, and nail the exam-favorite SAR-versus-CTR distinction, judgment-based suspicion versus threshold-based cash.4 min read
  24. 24Asset Recovery, Forfeiture & EthicsTake the profit out of crime: criminal, civil, and non-conviction-based forfeiture, cross-border recovery via MLATs and UNCAC, and the ethics that govern every power you hold.4 min read
  25. 25Exam-Day Strategy & Final ReviewFinish strong. Master scenario-question reasoning, distractor elimination, time and stamina management, and a final-review plan across all 13 content areas for exam day.5 min read

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