Tweet The cyber crime problem As more consumers use the Internet to complete financial transactions, the threat of various forms of cyber crime is likewise increasing. Those forms include identity theft, bank account hijacks, ATM skimming, POS data thefts, and credit/debit card account theft. Victims of financial cyber crime are often financially wiped out and […]
Tweet U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, David Cohen, was in Europe this week warning government agencies against the increase in kidnappings for ransom by terrorist organizations (listed entities). In the past decade, al Qaeda is estimated to have received ransom payments of US$120 million from kidnappings that occurred mostly in North Africa, […]
Tweet Police in Columbia have arrested two men arriving in that country after discovering that they were each smuggling $40,000 cash in $100 bills, hidden in their stomachs. The cash was wrapped in plastic, similarly to the way in which drug smugglers wrap up heroin and cocaine for internal body smuggling. The men were taken […]
Tweet Canada has introduced anti-nuclear terrorism legislation to fully implement the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. Australia enacted similar legislation a month ago. Bill S-9 – the Nuclear Terrorism Act, amends the Criminal Code as follows: it creates an offence of possessing […]
Tweet According to a new report by Global Financial Integrity, approximately US$872 billion flowed illicitly from Mexico during 1970 to 2010 from money laundering, tax evasion and corruption. The flow of funds represents about 5% of Mexico’s GDP. The report noted that trade-based money laundering was the most common method used to remove money from […]
Tweet The news on Friday that the U.S. had indicted 11 individuals associated with the operation of the Internet gambling sites PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker for violations of U.S. gambling and anti-money laundering laws and bank fraud, has raised questions about the future of the funds held by those entities on behalf […]
Tweet The Court of Appeal for British Columbia has upheld a six month prison sentence imposed on a former Sri Lankan refugee in Canada for terrorist activity financing. In 2008, Prapaharan Thambaithurai solicited funds from members of the Tamil community in Vancouver to support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated terrorist group in […]
Tweet The 2011 U.S. Department of State International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released on March 1, has once again determined that Canada is a major money laundering country, and in addition, has determined that Canada is a major precursor chemical source country. According to the Report, money laundering in Canada generally occurs though the following […]
Tweet Marc-Andre Cusson, a resident of Sutton, Quebec, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Vermont for his role in a drug trafficking and money laundering operation in Canada and the U.S. Cusson was accused of being the ringleader in the operation that imported tons of marijuana to the U.S. and smuggled millions of […]
Tweet The third executive of a Los Angeles toy company, Meichun Cheng Huang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy today as part of a black market peso exchange scheme that laundered almost US$9 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia using teddy bears and Topo Gigio mouse dolls. Huang was a co-owner of the toy company, […]