Focus on Investment Fraud and Vulnerability Factors: A guide by Wilsons Detectives & Anthony Bryan Corporate intelligence- Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo.

The Epidemic

Sadly, and at an alarming rate, money launderers seem able to penetrate financial systems turning almost any place that handles financial transactions into a potential centre for money laundering.

Risk assessment

It would be very difficult to precisely measure how vulnerable any particular institution was to this kind of fraud and of course, conversely, some may never be affected.

Check your vulnerability

At Wilsons Detectives we have put together a checklist that point to some factors that we have identified as being more likely to lead to vulnerability to money laundering. We have included what we see as main vulnerabilities, however these are not necessarily the only threats.

· Situations where money laundering is not criminalized.

· Where bank secrecy rules and rigidities can get in the way of investigations by law enforcement. Rigid bank secrecy rules often obstruct law enforcement investigations and do not highlight suspicious transactions.

· A failure to meet and to know customers allows transactions to be completed in relative anonymity. This makes illegal operations easier for money launderers.

· If disclosure of an account owner is not required and there is no necessity to disclose the beneficiary of any transaction this creates fertile ground for money launderers.

· Cross-border movement of currency without checks.

· Large cash transactions that do not require reporting.

· A lack of sequential financial record reporting.

· Where suspicious transactions go unreported or reporting is inconsistent.

· Where there are no guidelines for picking up transactions that may be suspicious.

· In non-bank financial systems, which lack supervision, regulation, or monitoring.

· Deliberate evasion by legitimate businesses of controls on money exchange.

· When no central reporting system exists to receive, analyse or disseminate to the relevant authorities details of unusual or suspicious financial transactions.

· Weak or lacking bank regulatory controls, the absence of the “Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision.”

· Tax haven banking systems and offshore financial centres where banks and accounts are subject to inadequate background investigation.

· Foreign banking where significant wire transfer occurs.

· A charitable organisation where regulation is lax and there is less supervision and can be used for money laundering or financing for terrorism.


These are some of the scenarios that money launderers look for as ‘soft’ targets for their activities. If you feel that you may be affected by money laundering then contact us at Wilsons Detectives, the oldest Detectives Agency in Asia and the largest by far. Email us at help@detectiveswilsons.com  / wilsonslondon@outlook.com