As well as being something that helps us with our everyday lives, from shopping to communicating, the internet has also been something that criminals have found helpful. Financial crimes like money laundering have been areas that crime agencies around the world have been attempting to crack down on since the internet arrived, giving rise to these ways that criminals could exploit it.
Using processes like this AML identity check https://www.w2globaldata.com/regulatory-compliance-solutions-and-software/aml-id-checks/ helps to prevent money laundering – for example, this means that if you want to open a bank account, you need to be checked to ensure that you are who you say you are, and that the money that you are putting in there is obtained legally.
There are lots of ways that criminals utilise the internet financially however – a few of these include online auctions, using cryptocurrencies, gambling sites and gaming online sites. This is done by using money that has been earned illegally for example from drugs or weapons dealing, or from human trafficking, and then converting it back to money that appears clean – and better for the criminal – not traceable.
As well as the fact that these are highly immoral, not to mention illegal activities, fraud and money laundering cost countries around the world a lot of money, so it is important to make sure that they are prevented. This does not only reduce criminal activity as a whole but then also benefits society too.