The first chapter of a beginner’s manual on money laundering states that a person wishing to legalize money obtained in the black must be able to attribute a legitimate origin to it. Indeed, banks are subject to anti-money laundering rules and must verify the origin of funds deposited in an account, explains Professor Maus. One of the ways is to pretend to have won at games of chance. “A technique that comes up frequently”according to the expert.
How to fight money laundering in the age of digital banking and AI
However, gambling businesses are also subject to anti-money laundering rules and must have an internal compliance department responsible for detecting and reporting potential cases that raise questions to the anti-money laundering unit.
According to Maus, a frequently used technique is “smurfing,” which involves dividing large amounts into small amounts. A single transaction may go unnoticed, but monitoring over a long period of time can reveal suspicious behavior. For example, if someone buys 1,000 or 2,000 euros worth of scratch tickets via an electronic system every month, this will end up arousing suspicion, concludes the tax law professor.
