How Australian authorities uncovered a $123-million crypto fraud

[_act_]

Do not mind what is in the title of the news because it is not a crypto fraud but the money was laundered in fiat and later converted into crypto.

This is how to money was laundered:

The ringleader of the crypto scam was a cash-in-transit security company. It used couriers to pick up illicit money at dead drop locations in different cities and carry it to Queensland.

After receiving the money, the security company had to transfer it to its front businesses. To do that, it used an armored vehicle and transported illicit funds together with legitimate money, avoiding raising suspicion.

However, this was only one among many simple steps to obfuscate.

The next step was to move the cash to a classic car dealership that controlled many bank accounts. Car dealerships make perfect front businesses for money laundering, as they regularly deal with large cash payments and can easily hide illegal funds among real sales.

When the dealership got the money, it commingled illicit funds with legitimate earnings during bank deposits. To add a further layer to conceal the source, it transferred money between its bank accounts. The dealership later sent the laundered money to a sales promotion company, which was also part of the ring.

The last step was to deliver laundered money, which was handled by the sales promotion company. It converted part of the proceeds to cryptocurrencies, probably to add another layer to complicate tracing. Eventually, the funds reached beneficiaries in crypto or through third-party businesses.

Although the money was later converted to cryptocurrencies but we can see how the money passed through many stages in fiat before it was converted into cryptocurrencies. In short the money was laundered in different stages to make it difficult to trace using legit businesses and it was in fiat.

[Ojima-ojo]

I read in the news today how depense riders in my country are now used for transportation of drugs and other illegal items within the city, this is heart breaking because at this point, they got license to operate and at that could bypass some security checks.


But I am sure the way to go about this is for security agents to be more vigilant in the search of most courier services, because Money laundering, drug supplies are on the high rise of cases coming up against them.

[freedomgo]

Although it took more than a year before it was finally uncovered, the authorities still did a great job.

At this point, it’s clear that no one is truly safe when it comes to money laundering especially when the scheme involves banks and legitimate businesses as fronts. That leaves a paper trail, and I’m guessing they used advanced tools to analyze and trace the transactions, which eventually led to the discovery.

What likely triggered the investigation was the deposit of large amounts into banks. Since banks are strictly compliant with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) rules and are required to report suspicious activity, that could’ve set off the red flags, and from there, the pieces slowly came together to solve the puzzle.

[Akbarkoe]

This theft has been made a very good system and will be very difficult to track, however the stages carried out are a form of money laundering mechanism under a legitimate company and such methods, if it were in my country it might be very difficult to track but in Australia, the government is quite capable of revealing the mode of this money launderer, maybe because the amount is very large which makes this aroma smell good.

They did a great job, the time wasted was not in vain, and usually networks like this will be easy to find again, because I believe enough that this is not just one group, maybe there are others.

[cabron]

Initially the Australian authorities already have suspicions over what this car dealer is probably doing and they could trace it if they go over the receipts as they are trying to mix the illicit money with the clean money.  Probably even watch them every time already, they just the right time.

But it must have been very hard for them to trace how these security company and the crypto scammer.  Only the legitimate business that will be traced.

[Alphakilo]

This is a very complex process almost like they are mixing the money. And in reality this is how money laundery works I even believe that they are sophisticated and almost undetectable ways not how yet to be discovered in this type of fraud.

What I like most about this types of stories is that they will always end up getting caught. It may not happen immediately but it does sooner or later. Criminals cannot win.

[crwth]

People who are conducting this are improving, but it's good that they were able to grasp this complicated process. I believe that what needs to happen is to be more regulatory to prevent this type of fraud, and perhaps implement other technological tools that can improve the process and help uncover it faster.

What I'm concerned about is that there are probably many things they could do if they cooperate overseas. It will become a more complicated problem when that happens.

[Wakate]

It must have taken regorous process for this to be uncovered or there must have been a whistleblower for this processes to be uncovered by the Australian security. This is a very complex process that looks sophisticated to be easily traced by the security.

Many drug dealers and scammers are seeing cryptocurrency as a safe heaven for them to us and make their illicit businesses looks genuine and uneasy to be tracked by the security. I like it when I see this kind of news about how the government through the local securities are tightening their watch on how fiat currency are moving from one bank to another and also on cryptocurrency.

It is not new again that many of these money launders are jumping on any available means to make sure that their money is safe and uneasy to be tracked by the security, and that has been the major reason why they are converting it to cryptocurrency through P2P.

[yhiaali3]

Are we witnessing a fiat currency mixer similar to cryptocurrency mixers?
It's good that this time, cryptocurrencies weren't directly accused of money laundering....
This incident can be used as evidence that not only Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are used for money laundering, as governments claim, but also fiat currencies.
In any case, we are ultimately against money laundering in all its forms, whether it involves cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies.

[Coyster]

I don't know why the news websites are calling this a "crypto scam", without reading the news, some people might think the money recovered was cryptocurrency stolen from individuals/institutions. This is a classic case of money laundering involving fiat and many front businesses, such as a car dealership and a sales promotion company, the only time crypto was mentioned in this story is when funds were to be paid to beneficiaries.

That said, good job to the authorities who successfully exposed and squashed this scam ring, but the media can do better in how they published this story.

[BtcAnalyst1]

This is a very complex process almost like they are mixing the money. And in reality this is how money laundery works I even believe that they are sophisticated and almost undetectable ways not how yet to be discovered in this type of fraud.

What I like most about this types of stories is that they will always end up getting caught. It may not happen immediately but it does sooner or later. Criminals cannot win.

All this approach applied by the criminals are absolutely a delay tactics unfortunately, they were being tracked and got caught. I am just hearing this kind of story for the first time where fiat undergo a mixing processes and then converted to crypto, this is dramatic, the criminal could not win and i commend the great effort of the investigating team.

[Ishicryptic]

Although the money was later converted to cryptocurrencies but we can see how the money passed through many stages in fiat before it was converted into cryptocurrencies. In short the money was laundered in different stages to make it difficult to trace using legit businesses and it was in fiat.

Cryptocurrency has always been made the scapegoat since it's creation anytime that money laundering is mentioned, this is one of the major reason why some governments are skeptical about crypto transactions. But clearly most money laundering are done through fiat, some go through a decentralized digital currency like Bitcoin then in the end it is cryptocurrency that is given all the bad name for laundered funds.

It is clear that money laundering have become more sophisticated, criminals will use different legitimate businesses and cryptocurrency to mix laundering funds to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities. I am glad that enforcement authorities are catching up to their latest tactics to stop their criminal activities. I know that no legitimate transactions will go through money laundering, it must be drug money, funding terrorism and all sorts of crimes, I am happy that they are being found out and caught.

[_BlackStar]

Money laundering schemes carried out by most people are basically easy to detect if the government or its individuals are not involved in the circle. Having many businesses with various ideas is a cover behind the money laundering scheme - it is not surprising if we find these businesses seem abandoned but have a lot of turnover from their financial reports.

Such cases of money laundering can be easily exposed if the government is not involved - but if the government is involved in it, then the eradication will never go smoothly. We can really understand that not all governments work sincerely - some of them also need money and are selfish. The same case occurs in almost all countries - so such schemes seem to be quite familiar among us now.