Fast food from our money laundering investigation

We live in the world of deception.

We get texts from unknown numbers with a strange tone of familiarity. We have promised stunning profits in social media. We have faced characters in dating applications that seemed very good.

It is not only we, of course. Most people have heard stories or know someone – one of the colleague, colleague, the neighbor – who fell into a trick and loss of money, and perhaps even the savings of his life.

But when our phones exploded with random post calls, we asked a different question. The fraudsters make billions of dollars every year. How do they turn this illegal money into a legal income? In other words, how do they wash it clean?

So we followed the money.

We took our search from Hong Kong, where we alike, to Cambodia. In the coastal city of Sihanoukville, we have seen the carnival of permanent and veinous fraud, which works from thorny vehicles or the upper floors of incomplete buildings. We met with the fraudsters and washed them in Chinese restaurants lining up on the beach.

It took some time to persuade those who are familiar with speaking to us, but in the end, about half of them led us to their maze world. They have shown us channels on the social media application, where they trade. Teach us their terms.

More importantly, they gave us a bump of documents, a type of money laundering booklet, describing their methods in detail.

The corridor eventually led us to the Camione Group company, a firm financial company with many subsidiaries. Hayun did not answer our questions.

We found some of its subsidiaries, established the architecture necessary for money laundering. And profit every step.

You can rent money laundering on Telegram.

Huione company is hosting an online bazaar where disintegrated and other criminals can find money laundering. It is impossible to measure the exact volume of this market, but the Ellilial Analysis Company has linked $ 26.8 billion in cryptocurrencies since 2021.

The bazaar consists of thousands of chat groups in Telegram, where unknown users announce money laundering and other services. It makes money by imposing fees on advertisements on public groups and from maintenance fees for special privacy.

One channel called “demand and supply” contains more than 400,000 users and receives hundreds of messages every day. After we sent questions to the Huione and others in late February, Telegram said it had removed the channel. But another one quickly appeared to replace it and had 250,000 members within a week.

The bazaar rejects any criminal association or any link to the Huione Group. But she told Telegram customers that the Huione group is one of its “strategic partners and shareholders”.

Once the fraudsters find money laundering, conversations are transmitted to special groups where deals are delivered.

The “Makers” will find the best deal.

Another company, Huione International Pay, provides money laundering services, according to internal documents and two people familiar with its operations.

This company is working as what is known as the matchmaker – ties criminals with people who control bank or virtual portfolio accounts where illegal money ends. The municipal maker takes a reduction, for example, 15 percent for money laundering in the United States, and give some of the owners of accounts, known as the mules money.

Huione International Pay did not answer our questions.

But the fraudsters are also deceived.

We found one of the interesting features in this world is the “warranty”.

Online bazaar, for a symbolic fee, will carry a warranty deposit to ensure transactions between criminals and money laundering. Why? Because the fraudsters steal from each other. The deposits impose the honor between thieves.

Most of the transactions are denied in the encrypted currency.

The mules carry the most dangerous risk.

Once the fancy maker brokers are made and a deposit provision, the mules send information about their bank account. The criminal pays these numbers to the victim of fraud, which deposits the money that will not be seen almost again.

Most of these accounts are only open for weeks. More importantly, the calculations have no direct link to the fraudsters themselves.

This means, even if law enforcement agents or banks discover accounts, they cannot easily track money to criminals. The mules may be caught. The fraudsters are difficult to capture.

Money cage around the world

The mule is transmitted quickly the money from one account to another. Often, this first jump outside the country. Sometimes, money is divided into smaller pieces to avoid doubt.

In one of the cases we reviewed, the money jumped from the victims from the United States to the Bahamas. From there, it was used to purchase the encrypted currency rope.

Finally, the mule takes a reduction in the services provided, and the rest is sent to the fancy maker. In the end, the criminal gets the bulk of the looting.