Modus operandi
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- For other uses of the term, please see Modus operandi (disambiguation)
Modus operandi (often used in the abbreviated form MO) is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation." The plural is modi operandorum ("modes of operation"). It is used in police work to describe a criminal's characteristic patterns and style of work. It is also applied in fraud investigation when talking of behavior patterns that indicate specific types of fraud. eg. False identity is a key MO of retail banking sleeper fraud.
The term is also commonly used in English in a non-criminal sense to describe someone's habits or manner of working, the method of operating or functioning.
A criminal's MO may also be used in offender profiling, where it can also be used to find clues to the perpetrator's psychology.
The method of operation or MO is sometimes confused with a criminal's "signature". While a criminal's MO may change over time, his or her signature will usually stay the same.
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