- Europol has taken a criminal bank network down
- These criminals cleaned money to other organizations
- Criminals are increasingly using alternative banking solutions
A criminal parallel banking organization with several branches from all over Europe has been removed by Europol, the Agency has confirmed. This dismantling comes in the form of arrests for 17 individuals (15 in Spain as well as one in Austria and Belgium).
Alongside the arrests, criminal assets of 4.5 million euros were seized as well as electronic units and firearms. The criminals who were arrested were primarily Chinese and Syrian in nationality and are accused of providing money laundering to criminals.
“This includes parallel banking services, illegal Hawala bank, cash collection, cash courier services and the exchange of Cryptocurrencies for cash.
An underground financial system
Also seized in the dismantling was € 183,000 in cryptocurrency and 77 bank accounts – this structured underground financial system allegedly used alternative banking methods to avoid law enforcement.
“This operation is a good example of the interconnection between criminal networks,” a spokesman for Europol told CyberSecurity News. “By following the money -trails left by previous studies of migrant smuggling, we have managed to take down an important financial infrastructure that allowed various criminal activities throughout Europe.”
This comes after Europol and Eurojust dismantled an extensive investment fraud that stole 3 million euros from about a hundred victims. This fake business encouraged users to pour money into false investment schemes, with cyber criminals earning ‘significant profits’ from the platform.
Digital and financial fraud is increasingly associated with more and more tools available to criminals to access victims and to grow crime networks. Criminals are aimed at alternative banking systems to clean and move money thanks to lowered monitoring and regulation.
