Online Gambling Sites Linked to Fentanyl Money Laundering
Criminal organizations are using online gambling platforms and associated payment processors to launder money from fentanyl production and trafficking, according to an Operational Alert from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).
A new report from a Canadian financial intelligence agency says igaming sites are being used to launder money from fentanyl trafficking.
As observed in suspicious transaction reports, known fentanyl traffickers were frequently sending funds received from multiple incoming email money transfers to gambling sites and received payments in return from associated payment processors based in Malta, Canada and the United Kingdom.
It’s suspected that individuals are depositing and withdrawal funds at online casinos to make it look like wagers and winnings.
Deposits and Withdrawals from iGaming Sites
The Operational Alert is the result of tri-lateral work between FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence agency, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the United States and the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera in Mexico. The three units came together to form the North American Drug Dialogue Illicit Financing Working Group to develop money laundering indicators related to the importation, production and distribution of illegal synthetic opioids like fentanyl and support law enforcement investigations.
Reporting from businesses who issue alerts about this activity will lead to actionable financial intelligence in support of investigations and prosecutions.
The Operation Alert is linked to Project Guardian, launched in 2018, a wider public-private partnership led by CIBC with other financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies and people in the private sector to target money laundering activities around the importation, production and distribution of illegal synthetic opioids.
5,000 Suspicious Transactions
The FINTRAC report also said organized crime groups are “importing or diverting essential precursor chemicals and lab equipment from China and other Asian countries for the production of illegal synthetic opiods.”
The Operational Alert was developed following analysis of 5,000 suspicious transaction reports related to fentanyl and illegal synthetic opioids received between 2020 and 2023, data from other financial intelligence units, input from domestic and foreign government and non-government organizations, as well as open source information to corroborate suspicious trends, patterns and indicators.
We are committed to working with our domestic partners and North American allies to protect our communities and our citizens from the scourge of fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids that is being fuelled by transnational organized crime,” said Sarah Paquet, Director and Chief Executive Officer, FINTRAC.
“We have shown with Project Guardian that, by following the money and leveraging the power of financial intelligence, we can effectively target, disrupt and dismantle the organized criminal networks that profit from this insidious illicit activity and threaten the safety and security of Canadians and North Americans.”
Cryptocurrencies Used
Throughout 2023-24, FINTRAC’s intelligence contributed to 266 major investigations as well as many hundreds of individual investigations at municipal, provincial and federal levels across Canada, as well as internationally.
These criminal organizations are also using “darknet marketplaces and virtual currencies” to distribute and traffic fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids on an international scale, “among other traditional methods,” FINTRAC said in a statement.
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