This hands-on online course combines clear SQL instruction with extensive practical exercises using coding sandboxes. 

You will write real SQL queries, receive immediate feedback, and progressively build your skills from basic data retrieval through to sophisticated fraud detection scripts. 

By the end of the course, you will have the confidence and capability to interrogate databases professionally, automate fraud detection, and create reusable queries supporting your organisation's counter-fraud operations.

No prior technical or coding experience required.

What you will learn:

Build foundational knowledge of databases and why SQL matters for fraud investigation:

• Understand why SQL matters for counter-fraud investigations and detection

• Learn how databases work and how SQL is used to query them

Learn to extract exactly the data you need from databases:

• Understand how to retrieve specific data you want from databases

• Learn how to filter for specific transactions, accounts, or customer records

• Write simple queries to examine suspicious activity

Master time-based analysis to spot suspicious patterns:

• Understand how to filter results by time periods and date ranges

• Detect rapid transactions indicating velocity fraud or account takeover

• Identify dormant accounts suddenly becoming active—a common fraud indicator

• Analyse transaction timing patterns suggesting automated or coordinated fraud

Develop sophisticated queries combining multiple fraud indicators:

• Understand how to build complex filters with multiple conditions, combining account data and transaction history

• Create automated filters that can run on schedules through Cron jobs

• Build detection rules that continuously monitor for emerging fraud patterns

Use aggregation and grouping to identify high-risk accounts:

• Learn how to group data to identify high-risk accounts, customers, or merchants

• Understand how to write to databases, such as flagging accounts that exceed risk thresholds

• Create fraud scoring mechanisms based on multiple risk factors

Combine data from multiple sources for comprehensive fraud investigations:

• Understand how relationships between datasets work and how to combine data from multiple sources

• Learn how to link across databases, such as connecting transaction tables to customer tables

• Build queries that follow relationships across your organisation's data infrastructure

Master sophisticated SQL for complex fraud detection:

• Build multi-step queries for complex investigations, allowing for creation of repeatable checks for fraudulent patterns

• Use subqueries to create layered fraud detection logic

• Create custom flags and risk scores based on conditional logic

Ensure your SQL work is reusable and easily maintained:

• Write clear, reusable queries that can be used and understood by others

• Write up your findings for non-technical staff, translating technical queries into actionable intelligence

Apply everything you have learnt in a realistic fraud investigation:

This course culminates in a practical mock investigation in which you will put into practice everything that you have learnt to detect indications of fraud in a sample dataset. You will query databases, build detection scripts, identify suspicious patterns, and document your findings professionally. This will give you the experience to feel comfortable using the skills you have learnt immediately.  

Real-world applications

The SQL skills taught in this fraud investigation training apply across numerous counter-fraud activities:

• Building automated transaction monitoring for payment fraud detection

• Identifying account takeover through unusual login patterns and rapid transactions

• Detecting synthetic identity fraud by analysing account creation and behaviour pattern

• Uncovering money laundering networks through linked account and transaction analysis

• Creating AML transaction monitoring rules for regulatory compliance

• Investigating application fraud by cross-referencing customer data across databases

• Developing fraud risk scoring models using customer and transaction attributes

Who should attend this counter-fraud training?

This SQL course is designed for fraud prevention and investigation professionals who need to work with databases as part of their counter-fraud work:

• Fraud analysts investigating transaction patterns and account behaviour

• Counter-fraud data analysts building detection rules and monitoring scripts

• Compliance officers conducting AML transaction monitoring and KYC reviews

• Financial crime investigators examining payment fraud and money laundering

• Risk analysts developing automated fraud detection systems

• Anyone in fraud prevention roles who works with customer, transaction, or account data