I still don't understand how this facilitates money laundering? You send small amounts to a bunch of accounts and then what exactly?
What is the source of the funds to launder and how/why is it already in the bank?
What is the source of the funds to launder and how/why is it already in the bank?
Money mules; you offer some influentiable kid some money to deposit cash into their account and send it on to someone else. Or an old lady. I'm sure part of the Nigerian prince thing is money laundering.
Second one that is very prevalent is physical stores that never seem to get any customers, e.g. in my neck of the woods there's these mobile phone companies everywhere. I'm sure they sell phones, simcards and accessories on occasion, but I can't see how it would cover the cost of rent, let alone make a profit. Unless once a month someone comes in with a few thousand in cash that then gets added to the books over time.
Oh, there actually was an article on HN about that recently, that was "american" candy shops in london: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-news-american-...
To be honest, I don't think money laundering is real, or significant. I see most money laundering rules as hidden or mislabeled sanctions on other countries, group of individuals or institutions.
E.g. here the nonsense is why money that you already have in a bank account needs to be sent to someone else via 1000s of random small transactions. At best that would add a layer of confusion, but you still have the money laundering problems for the sending and final receiving person.
What happens is that banks are trying to cover their ass and please regulators so they don’t get fined.
Of course all regulation does is add complexity. You still have the most common way to launder money: know the top-banker and have connections inside the bank. With the right amount of money you can buy all the KYC you need.
Which means all this regulations is either malicious or plain ignorant. I think it’s malicious.
It's just that you and I aren't big enough fish for the banks to look the other way, if we do it.
Gotta be a Mexican drug cartel, or a Russian oligarch to succeed in money laundering.
Heard it all now time for me to get off this site I think.