this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
12 points (87.5% liked)

Privacy

96 readers
1 users here now

Privacy is the ability for an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.

Rules

  1. Don't do unto others what you don't want done unto you.
  2. No Porn, Gore, or NSFW content. Instant Ban.
  3. No Spamming, Trolling or Unsolicited Ads. Instant Ban.
  4. Stay on topic in a community. Please reach out to an admin to create a new community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
12
How is withdrawing cash a trigger for money laundering? (www.brusselstimes.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

My understanding of money laundering is the baddies have huge truck loads of untaxed dirty cash and they need to somehow legitimize it to get it into the bank. E.g. from Breaking Bad: drug money → car wash with phony sales → bank. Once it’s in the bank, it’s on the radar.

The linked article says that withdrawing cash is a money laundering red flag. Can someone please explain why that is? AFAIK, if the money is in the bank it must already be clean (or appear so), no?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fincen is a US agency w/international reach, IIUC. The linked article is about Belgium, where €3k is a magic number for a lot of things:

https://www.nbb.be/en/financial-oversight/combating-money-laundering-and-financing-terrorism/information-and-15

Anyway, my question is still unanswered. I’m not asking what the limits are. I’m asking why withdrawals specifically have AML problems. My speculation is: they don’t… that a money launderer’s work is done on the deposit side of it & withdrawals have no relevance. It looks like AML is a cover for something else. E.g. they’re trying to prevent a run on the bank and are falsely using the “AML” buzzword that magically gets everyone’s uncritical agreement.