Summary
AUSTRAC used a number of suspicious matter reports (SMRs) to identify members of a Romanian money laundering and drug trafficking syndicate suspected of funding the supply of narcotics to Australia. Our intelligence led to law enforcement authorities arresting and convicting the key member of the syndicate for money laundering.
What to look out for
- Multiple ordering customers sending international funds transfer instructions (IFTIs) to common beneficiary customers in Romania.
- Multiple IFTIs structured in amounts of less than A$10,000 in order to avoid cash threshold reporting obligations.
- Multiple IFTIs sent by a single ordering customer on the same day, from different agent locations of the same remittance service provider.
- The ordering customer of the IFTIs also being the receiving beneficiary overseas.
- Customers using false identification details when conducting IFTIs, revealed by differences in the addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth used when making transactions at separate remittance agent locations.
The crime
Authorities suspected several Romanian-born Australian citizens of trafficking and distributing drugs, and laundering the proceeds on behalf of a Romanian crime syndicate.
AUSTRAC used information from the banking and remittance sectors to identify several suspects who were found to be helping the key Australia-based member of the syndicate by transferring funds via international funds transfer instructions (IFTIs) to other syndicate members in Romania.
The suspects made multiple cash transfers of less than A$10,000, often on the same day, at separate remittance outlets, using false identification documents. The key syndicate member was shown to have transferred more than A$500,000 to overseas beneficiaries, mainly in Romania, within 12 months.
The key syndicate member was arrested as he tried to leave Australia with the cash equivalent of A$11,200. He was charged with money laundering and failing to declare an amount of cash greater than A$10,000.
Penalties
The main offender pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years and four months’ jail.
How business reporting helped
The banking and remittance sectors sent 46 suspicious matter reports (SMRs) to AUSTRAC over three and a half years, detailing suspicious financial transactions by the suspects.
The SMRs revealed multiple IFTIs of amounts less than A$10,000 to syndicate members based in Romania, often made from different remittance outlets on the same day. Over 12 months, the suspects sent more than A$840,000 in structured amounts between A$6000 and A$9000.
AUSTRAC’s role
AUSTRAC’s analysis of the information we received from the banking and remittance sectors helped prove:
- the syndicate members remitted more than A$1 million offshore within two years
- the funds were likely from criminal activities
- the money was used to import drugs into Australia.
We also helped link this financial activity to the syndicate in Romania and to identify the main syndicate member in Australia.
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