DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇴 Bolivia /Crime & Justice

Money laundering professionalizes and goes digital with crypto and AI, FATF warns

From El Deber · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Context piece
  • The Financial Action Task Force said organized crime laundering networks are adopting cryptocurrencies, encrypted messaging, digital finance platforms and artificial intelligence.
  • The report highlighted the growth of “digital hawala,” in which intermediaries coordinate transfers through messaging apps and financial technology services.
  • The FATF said some networks have laundered more than 500 million euros within months and now serve a range of transnational criminal groups.

Money laundering networks serving organized crime are becoming faster, more professional and more digital, using cryptocurrencies, encrypted messaging and artificial intelligence to move funds and evade detection, the Financial Action Task Force said.

In a report published Thursday, the global body highlighted the rise of what it calls “digital hawala,” an online evolution of informal money-transfer systems built around trusted intermediaries. Operators coordinate through encrypted applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, while customers can initiate transfers through banks, mobile wallets, fintech platforms and instant-payment systems.

Nearly 70% of FATF members consulted for the report had detected new technologies being incorporated into these systems. Virtual assets, including stablecoins designed to maintain a stable value, allow operators to settle accounts without physically moving money from one country to another. The report also warned that criminal networks are developing dedicated hawala applications and using artificial-intelligence tools.

Money laundering as a service

· Financial Action Task ForceThe FATF used the phrase to describe specialists who conceal criminal funds for organizations in exchange for a fee.

The FATF said underground banking systems and hawala-like service providers have become important channels for professional laundering. They increasingly operate as cross-border businesses, moving large sums quickly and offering a model of “money laundering as a service” to different criminal organizations in return for commissions.

The networks may use legitimate professionals and businesses, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, notaries, financial advisers, real-estate agents and company-formation firms. Funds also increasingly pass through conventional financial channels, including bank accounts, fintech platforms, payment services, virtual IBANs, prepaid cards and virtual-asset wallets. Cases examined by the FATF involved more than 500 million euros laundered within a few months. The money came not only from drug trafficking and smuggling, but also from fraud, cybercrime, terrorist financing, illegal gambling and other forms of transnational organized crime.

Serious risk multiplier

· Giles ThomsonThe FATF president characterized the growing sophistication of these networks.
About this summary

Originally published by El Deber in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog