One of the largest global police operations against money laundering was carried out over several months, yielding spectacular results detailed by the European law enforcement agency Europol on Monday, December 4. The operation, led by the Netherlands and involving 25 other countries across multiple continents, was organized in collaboration with around 2,800 banking institutions, companies such as Western Union and TripAdvisor, as well as IT firms. Interpol and Eurojust, the judicial cooperation unit of the European Union, were also involved in this initiative.

Approximately 4,600 investigations launched in Europe, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Latin America led to the identification of 474 members of criminal groups who recruited over ten thousand "financial mules" – individuals transferring money, either in cash or digitally – in exchange for a commission. Some of the uncovered operations involved money transfers between countries, while in other cases, "mules" traveling under false identities opened accounts abroad.

However, the most commonly used technique is still "smurfing" or "structuring". It involves depositing small sums of cash into bank accounts held by different individuals, with modest amounts, to avoid attracting attention.

Increasingly sophisticated techniques

In total, the police and judicial services working since June have identified 10,736 fraudulent transactions, and 1,013 individuals have been apprehended. According to Europol, approximately €100 million were laundered by the suspects in a few months, but the operation prevented the concealment of €32 million. This amount should be considered in relation to estimates of the overall amount of money laundering in Europe, estimated at around €200 billion.

Dubbed EMMA9 (European Money Mule Action), this ninth operation of its kind has confirmed that the techniques used by criminals to launder dirty money have grown and become more sophisticated.

Investigators discovered that Ukrainian refugees have become new targets for recruiters attempting to exploit their vulnerability by forcing them to open bank accounts. Elderly individuals are also high-priority targets for criminal groups, who do not hesitate to directly threaten them to obtain their identification documents and signatures.

Young people, students and unemployed individuals who agree to receive money to be laundered are subsequently compelled to purchase luxury goods or electronic devices that they must hand over to their sponsor. In return, they receive either cash as a commission or vouchers for e-commerce websites.

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