Reported by Eve Sampson

Criminal networks in Europe are increasingly mixing illicit finances with seemingly legal businesses, and exploiting new technology to grow their operations and launder money faster than authorities can keep up, a new Europol report revealed.

Nearly 70% of criminal elements operating in the European Union use money-laundering techniques to garner revenue and hide assets, degrading the region’s financial stability and impeding its economic growth, according to the European Financial and Economic Crime Threat Assessment report released last week by the EU’s law enforcement arm, Europol. The increasing speed of deception is outpacing authorities which are struggling to uncover and prosecute financial crimes.

Though trade and technology have connected a globalized world, criminals are increasingly using modern advances to profit, Catherine De Bolle, the executive director of Europol, wrote in the report.

“Organised crime has built a parallel global criminal economic and financial system around money laundering, illicit financial transfers and corruption,” De Bolle said. “The ability to launder illicit proceeds on an industrial scale, to move them through a web of criminal financial brokers, and to corrupt the relevant actors, has become indispensable for modern organised crime.”

As services went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital banking has helped open new doors for criminal networks looking for a toehold in the financial system. Online banks, with no physical branches or offices, now offer nearly anonymous international deposits at lightning speed, making nefarious activity difficult to detect.

Read full report: https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/money-laundering-criminals-are-adapting-to-new-technology-faster-than-authorities-can-keep-up-eu-report-says/