The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC), Canada’s anti-money laundering agency, has issued an “operational alert” that aims to help financial services institutions spot indicators of financial activity that represents illegal money laundering of proceeds from “trafficking for sexual exploitation.”
The FINTRAC alert indicates that “human trafficking is among the fastest growing criminal activities, occurring internally within countries and between countries worldwide.” In Canada, reported incidents of human trafficking nearly doubled between 2013 and 2014, FINTRAC says, and mostly organized crime groups are perpetrating these crimes.
The guidance sets out possible red flags of money laundering activity connected with sex trafficking and how firms should use these indicators in watching for, and reporting, signs of illegal activity. The information comes from financial services institutions and police, FINTRAC’s alert notes.
“These indicators and other facts surrounding a financial transaction should be considered as a whole,” the FINTRAC guidance states. “This is important because a single transaction taken in isolation may lead to a false assumption of normalcy. Considering all indicators may reveal otherwise unknown links that taken together could lead to reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction consists of proceeds from human trafficking.”
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