Twelve methods of money laundering
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss how feasible it is for intelligent criminals to circumvent existing anti-money laundering mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
Based upon ten informal interviews with money launderers and their advisers; 18 formal, semi-standardized expert interviews with selected anti-money laundering specialists; and a quantitative survey of 181 compliance officers, 12 effective methods to launder money have been developed.
Findings
It has been found that gold, jewellery, raw diamonds, antiquities, art, real estate projects, consulting firms, mergers and acquisitions, banks in Dubai, deposit boxes, private cash deals and currency exchange offices continue to be extraordinarily suitable tools for money laundering.
Originality/value
The identification of gaps in anti-money laundering mechanisms is meant to provide both compliance officers and legislators with valuable insights. While the existing literature focuses on estimating the volume of money laundered in certain geographical areas and on the improvement of anti-money laundering mechanisms, this paper describes how money launderers proceed to avoid getting caught.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
No external research funding has been received for this article.
Citation
Teichmann, F.M.J. (2017), "Twelve methods of money laundering", Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 130-137. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-05-2016-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited