(Ottawa) Canada’s financial intelligence unit suspects that online gaming platforms are being used to launder profits from the trafficking and production of fentanyl.
Posted at 6:53 a.m.
Jim Bronskill
The Canadian Press
In an operational alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada says there is reason to believe that people are depositing and withdrawing funds from online casinos to hide profits from trafficking fentanyl and drugs. other opioids in the form of bets and winnings.
The alert, issued recently, states that known fentanyl traffickers have frequently sent money to online gambling sites and received funds in return from associated payment processors in Canada, Malta and the United Kingdom.
The federal center, known by the acronym FINTRAC, identifies money linked to laundering and terrorism by sifting through millions of data each year from banks, insurance companies, stock brokers, companies money services and casinos, among others.
The agency then discloses the information obtained to its partners, including Canada’s spy agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other police forces.
Organized crime involved
The operational alert highlights numerous telltale signs to help businesses detect and report suspicious transactions that may be linked to fentanyl, a highly addictive product that has caused an alarming overdose crisis in Canada.
To prepare the alert, FINTRAC analyzed a sample of approximately 5,000 suspicious transaction reports related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids filed between 2020 and 2023.
Most of the reports concerned the alleged distribution of synthetic opioids in Canada.
The transaction reports also revealed suspected imports of precursor chemicals, essential ingredients and equipment from China – and to a lesser extent India – for the production of synthetic opioids, the alert said. FINTRAC.
The intelligence agency also reviewed data from its foreign counterparts, assessments from other partners and open source information to help identify trends.
The alert highlights that the illegal supply of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in North America is fueled by the growing involvement of organized crime groups known to use questionable financial services in the darkest corners of the internet .
“These groups import or divert critical chemical precursors and laboratory equipment from China and other Asian countries for the production of illegal synthetic opioids,” the alert reads.
“These malicious actors also use underground internet marketplaces and virtual currencies to distribute and facilitate payments for fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids internationally, among other traditional methods. »
-Stratagem
According to FINTRAC, in one case, an individual received a few hundred high-value email money transfers from a payment processor closely linked to online gambling.
These processors send email money transfers on behalf of people depositing and withdrawing funds from online casinos. Transactions appear as a wire transfer from the processor rather than a transfer from the online gaming platform, making them more legitimate in the eyes of banks or other financial institutions.
The transactions in question were still considered suspicious due to the client’s tendency to deal with people linked to fentanyl trafficking, the alert explains.
The alert recalls that before 2020, North America was mainly a continent of consumption and destination for illicit market opioids, in particular fentanyl, but suggests that this observation has changed.
“Fentanyl was imported directly and largely from China by consumers and dealers, usually through underground internet markets. In recent years, trafficking networks have increased the production of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and their domestic and international distribution from North America, including Canada, the United States and Mexico. »
This shift from consumer status to producer status is also expected to occur in other international markets, such as Europe, Australasia and South America, adds FINTRAC.
The intelligence agency says the transactions potentially linked to opioid production involved wire transfers to individuals in high-risk jurisdictions for the purchase and diversion of precursors and essential chemicals.
These places included China – particularly the provinces of Hebei and Hubei – Eastern Europe and India. “Wire transfers to these jurisdictions were often routed through intermediary jurisdictions such as Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong to avoid detection,” FINTRAC said.
Turntables
Distribution networks are typically concentrated in large cities that serve as hubs for the production of fentanyl and the importation of precursors, essential chemicals and finished fentanyl, the alert states.
Transportation, freight forwarding and logistics companies that do much of their business in cash are potentially using Canada’s freight trucking industry to transport illicit synthetic opioids, she warns.
Point-of-sale and ATM transactions demonstrate that opioids are moving primarily inland from distribution centers in Vancouver.
From Vancouver, the products are distributed to Calgary or Edmonton, then to Saskatchewan, says FINTRAC.
“Other distribution networks, such as those originating in Ontario, see the flow of opioids from Toronto to surrounding areas, such as London and Hamilton, before being transported to Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. »
Significant fentanyl exports likely originate from mainland British Columbia and the Greater Toronto Area, the alert adds. “Exports often leave these jurisdictions by sea, air cargo and land passenger transport. »
