Canada's financial intelligence unit: Money launderers using online gambling sites

[The Buzz]

Canada's financial intelligence agency has issued a warning about the laundering of illicit cash through online gambling sites, which offer diverse methods to conceal questionable funds.

In a recently released bulletin, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) underscores the criminal exploitation of both legitimate and unlicensed digital wagering operations. Fintrac acknowledges the surge in online gambling popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and attributes it to the 2021 legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada.

From Global News:

Fintrac identifies money linked to illicit activities by electronically sifting millions of pieces of information each year from banks, money-service businesses, casinos, insurance companies, securities dealers, real estate brokers and others.

It discloses the resulting intelligence about suspected cases to police and other law-enforcement agencies.

In preparing the new bulletin, Fintrac analyzed suspicious transaction reports related to online gambling between 2016 and 2023.

It also looked at data from other financial intelligence units, assessments from domestic and international organizations, and information from open sources to glean trends and patterns.

“Online gambling sites offer prospective money launderers opportunities to conceal the source of their funds by using multiple different deposit and withdrawal methods,” the bulletin says.

Fintrac found a common tactic was the purchase of prepaid cards or vouchers using suspected proceeds of crime. They were then used to deposit money into gambling accounts, followed by withdrawals through wire or e-transfer to a Canadian bank account under the guise of winnings.

Bank accounts also provided a means of placing and layering proceeds of crime through licensed and unlicensed online gambling sites, the bulletin says.

For instance, bank deposits that may be linked to crimes such as drug dealing and human trafficking were sometimes depleted using rapid and frequent online gambling purchases or transfers to payment service providers known for facilitating transactions at gambling sites.

Read more here: https://globalnews.ca/news/10234531/...bling-fintrac/

[onkajikun]

I've known for a long time that money laundering exists, but I didn't know it went to this extent.
I feel very sad when I think about the possibility of something happening close to me.

thank you very much.

[justangel]

The issue of money laundering is not new in Canada. Few years back, the fashion was to enter a casino with a bag full of cash, play few hands, and get the funds into a bank account, clean as a whistle. So now they are doing by using the prepaid cards and some other tricks. Us does exactly the same.

[ocreditor]

Money launderers using online sites also from other industries.. but attacking the gambling industry is easier

[casinos-au-quebec]

Money launderers always find new ways to stay a step ahead, shifting from casinos to online games. Guess it's easier to point fingers at gambling, but really, they're getting creative everywhere and not just in Canada.

[justangel]

Money launderers always find new ways to stay a step ahead, shifting from casinos to online games. Guess it's easier to point fingers at gambling, but really, they're getting creative everywhere and not just in Canada.

Totally agree with you!

[casinobonusguy]

I know several people who were booted out of Scotiabank for receiving Affiliate payments from Casinos and they quoted UIEGA bill from 2006 as they are heavily invested in USA and feel they have to follow that rule. I just hope they can distinguish between Legit Casino activity and Money laundering lol

[justangel]

I know several people who were booted out of Scotiabank for receiving Affiliate payments from Casinos and they quoted UIEGA bill from 2006 as they are heavily invested in USA and feel they have to follow that rule. I just hope they can distinguish between Legit Casino activity and Money laundering lol

Same thing is happening in other countries as well. One of my accounts was shut down for same reason. Receiving affiliate income. even tough it was invoiced and all legal. Taxes paid, etc.

[casinobonusguy]

Same thing is happening in other countries as well. One of my accounts was shut down for same reason. Receiving affiliate income. even tough it was invoiced and all legal. Taxes paid, etc.

We have no issues when it goes in the corporate account but we have a few programs that will not pay into business accounts so we have a dedicated USD for that and time to time they will get rejected.

[onkajikun]

It is a sad situation that while we and many other players are seriously playing casino games, cruel criminals are laundering money with no pretense. In the country where I live, anti-money laundering measures have made it difficult to use crypto assets as freely as before.
The biggest concern is that gambling itself becomes a target of evil.

[Pokerface]

This is happening throughout the world and not only in Canada. It was obviously a slow news day for Global News.