We live in a world of fraud.
We get texts from unknown numbers with an unusual tone of knowledge. He promised us breathless breath in ads on social media. We came across characters on the introduction applications that looked too good to be true.
We’re not just us, of course. Most people have heard stories or know someone – relatives, colleagues, neighbors – who has fallen for demolition and lost money, perhaps even a savings of life.
But as our phones broke through the calls of unwanted mail, we asked a different question. Deceives make billions of dollars every year. How do they convert this illegal money into a seemingly legitimate income? In other words, how to wash it?
So we followed the money.
Our search took us from Hong Kong, where we are both, at Cambodia. In the coastal city of Sihanoukville, we have witnessed a permanent and infamous carnival of fraud, which operated from the joints of the barbed wire or the upper floors of unfinished buildings. We met with fraudsters and their washes in Chinese restaurants located on the beach.
It took us a while to persuade insiders to talk to us, but in the end, about half a dozen of them took us to their maze of the world. They showed us channels on the social media application telegram where they perform their store. They taught us their jargon.
And most importantly, they gave us the cache of documents, a kind of money washing manual, which describes their methods in detail.
The trail eventually led us to Cambodian company called Huione Group, a well -established financial company with numerous branches. Huione did not answer our questions.
Some of his branches, we discovered, created the architecture needed to launder. And profit at every step.
You can rent money laundering at the Telegram.
One of Huone’s associated companies hosts an internet bazaar where fraudsters and other criminals can find money laundering. It is impossible to measure the precise size of this market, but Elliptic analytical has linked with $ 26.8 billion with a cryptocurrency transaction since 2021.
Bazaar consists of thousands of chat groups on Telegram where anonymous users advertise money laundering and other services. This earns it by charging public groups ads and from maintenance fees for private.
One channel called “demand and offer” had more than 400,000 users and received hundreds of messages each day. After sending questions to the Huione group and others in late February, the Telegram said he had removed the channel. But another quickly appeared to replace it and had 250,000 members within a week.
Bazaar denies any criminal association or any connection with the Huion group. But the Telegram clients said that Huione Group is one of his “strategic partners and shareholders.”
Once the fraudsters find money laundering, conversations are moving into private groups in which contracts are contracts.
“Matchmaker” will find the best offer.
The second branch of the company, Huione International Pay, offers money laundering services, according to internal documents and two people to introduce his business.
This company serves as what is known as Matchmaker – the connection of criminals with people who control bank accounts or virtual banknotes in which illegal money ends. Matchmaker reduces, they say that 15 percent of money laundering in the United States, and some of this gives the account owners known as the Money Mules.
Huione International Pay did not answer our questions.
But frauds and deceit.
One interesting feature of this world, we discovered, was a “guarantee”.
The Internet Bazaar will hold deposits at ESCrow for a small fee to guarantee transactions between criminals and money laundering. Why? Because fraudsters steal from each other. Deposits spend the honor among thieves.
Most transactions are denominated in the midfield of the cryptocurrency currency.
Mule get the most risks.
Once the contract and deposit is set up, the money mule is sent through their bank account information. The crime is transmitted by these numbers to the victim of a fraud, which deposits money that will almost certainly never be seen.
Most of these accounts are only open for a few weeks. It is important that the accounts do not have a direct connection with the fraudsters themselves.
This means that even if the laws for law or banners discover accounts, money cannot easily monitor the criminals. Mule can be arrested. The fraud is harder to catch.
Money hopscotches around the world
Mule quickly transmits money from one account to another. Often this first jump is outside the country. Sometimes money breaks into smaller pieces to avoid doubt.
In one case we examined, the money was deceived by the victims of the united states to Bahama. He used to buy a cryptocurrency connection.
Finally, the mule takes the cut for services provided and the rest sends the Matchmaker. In the end, the criminal gets most of the prey.
