Money Laundering: What is it & How it works?

Money laundering is the illicit technique of making significant sums of money obtained through criminal activity, such as drug trafficking or terrorist funding, appear to have come from a legitimate source. The money obtained through illicit conduct is deemed unclean, and the process “launders” it to make it appear clean.

Money laundering is a serious financial crime that is committed by both white-collar and street-level criminals. To detect and prevent this behavior, most financial institutions have anti-money-laundering (AML) protocols in place.

The Process of Money Laundering

Money laundering is vital for criminal groups who want to successfully employ illegally obtained funds. Large amounts of unlawful currency are inefficient and dangerous to deal with. Criminals require a method to deposit money in legitimate financial institutions, but they can only do so if the money looks to be coming from respectable sources.

• Laundering money is typically divided into three steps: placement, layering, and integration.
• Placement puts “dirty money” into the legal financial system covertly.
• Layering conceals the source of the money through a series of transactions and bookkeeping procedures.
• The now-laundered money is removed from the real account in the final phase, integration, to be used for whatever reasons the criminals have in mind for it.
• It should be noted that this template may differ in real-life scenarios. Money laundering may not entail all three processes, or any of them may be merged or done multiple times.

There are numerous methods for laundering money, ranging from the simple to the extremely complicated. One of the most typical methods is for a criminal organization to own a legitimate, cash-based business. If the group operates a restaurant, for example, it may overstate daily cash collections to pass illegal cash via the establishment and into the restaurant’s bank account. The monies can then be withdrawn as needed. These types of enterprises are commonly known as fronts.

Money Laundering Subtypes

Smurfing (also known as “structuring”) is a popular type of money laundering. To prevent detection, the thief divides huge sums of money into several modest deposits, frequently distributed across multiple accounts. Money laundering can also be achieved through the use of currency swaps, wire transfers, and “mules”—cash smugglers who cross borders and deposit huge sums of cash in foreign banks where money-laundering enforcement is lax.

Other ways of money laundering include:

• Investing in commodities that can be easily transported to other jurisdictions, such as jewels and gold;
• Investing in and selling precious assets such as real estate, automobiles, and boats discretely;
• Casino gambling and money laundering; counterfeiting; and the use of shell firms (inactive companies or corporations that essentially exist on paper only).

Money Laundering Through Electronic Means

The Internet has given a new twist to an old crime. The growth of internet financial institutions, anonymous online payment methods, and peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers via mobile phones has made detecting illegal money transfers even more difficult. Furthermore, the use of proxy servers and anonymizing software makes the third component of money laundering, integration, nearly impossible to detect—money can be transmitted or withdrawn without leaving any record of an Internet protocol (IP) address.

Money can also be laundered via online auctions and sales, gambling websites, and virtual gaming sites, where illicit gains are transformed into game currency before being converted back into real, usable, and untraceable “clean” money.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the newest frontiers in money laundering. While not completely anonymous, they are increasingly being utilized in extortion schemes, the drug trade, and other illicit activities due to their anonymity in comparison to more traditional forms of cash.

Because most AML regulations are still based on detecting dirty money as it flows via traditional financial institutions and channels, they have been slow to catch up to these forms of cybercrime.

What is the significance of combating money laundering?

Anti-money laundering (AML) aims to deprive criminals of the earnings from their unlawful operations, removing the primary incentive for them to engage in such evil activities. Illegal and dangerous operations like drug trafficking, people smuggling, terrorism funding, smuggling, extortion, and fraud imperil millions of individuals around the world and inflict enormous social and economic costs on society. Because money laundering legitimizes the proceeds of such acts, preventing money laundering may result in a reduction in criminal activity and hence a considerable benefit to society.

What role do cryptocurrencies play in money laundering?

In a June 2021 report, the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) stated that convertible virtual currencies (CVCs)—another word for cryptocurrencies—have risen to become the money of choice in a wide range of online illegal operations.

10 CVCs are increasingly being used to layer transactions and obscure the origin of money earned from criminal activities, in addition to being the favored form of payment for purchasing online exploitative content, drugs, and other unlawful goods are all examples of ransomware tools and service Criminals employ several cryptocurrency money-laundering tactics, such as mixers” and tumblers, which break the link between an address or crypto “wallet” spending cryptocurrency and the address receiving it.

How does money laundering take place in casinos?

One typical method of money laundering in casinos is to buy chips from the casino with cash and then receive checks in exchange for the chips, often without gaming or placing small bets.

What are some examples of how real estate is used to launder money?

Undervaluation or overvaluation of properties, buying and selling properties in rapid succession, using third parties or companies to distance the transaction from the criminal source of funds, and private sales are some of the common methods used by criminals for money laundering through real estate transactions. Authorities Involved in Money Laundering Investigations

Authorities Involved in Money Laundering Investigations

Many different legal authorities investigate potential money laundering activities regularly. The FBI and the IRS are the two principal authorities in the United States that handle money laundering investigations.

• Money laundering has become such a major issue that international organizations have been formed particularly to tackle it.
• The International Money-Laundering Information Network. (IMoLIN) is a United Nations-sponsored research center that was established to help law enforcement authorities around the world identify, and pursue money-laundering operations.
• The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering
• (FATF) was established as a G-7 initiative to produce more effective financial regulations and anti-laundering legislation.

Because money laundering is a crucial component of terrorist organizations, which are typically funded by illegal activities.

The FATF was also tasked with directly combating illegal cash flows to terrorists and terrorist organizations.

Both the IMoLIN and the FATF collaborate with Interpol as well as domestic police agencies in the G-7 nations (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan).