Virtual Finance – The way to Money Laundering
Over the last two whole decades cybercrime has full grown from the early days of curiosity-driven cyber-terrorists and pranksters to a fully mature industry. In the process, much of the distinction between ‘traditional’ criminal act and online wrongdoing has been decreased. On the one hand organized crime now uses the web as another machine for dialogue and transferring illegal proceeds, on the other hand spam, phishing and trojans are mature criminal businesses that are growing to virtual finance frauds.
At the similar time as the internet has modified the way people socialize, entertain themselves and work, it’s insisted transform the unlawful underworld, providing new ways to make easy bucks - and new ways to use money laundering & it continues whether from typical crimes or cybercrime.
In July, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (also known , AUSTRAC) issued one of its periodic typologies data, which summarize money laundering case analysis as well as making an evaluation of growing approaches for laundering the proceeds of criminal act. Two of the “possible vulnerabilities” flagged by the latest typologies report were the use of ‘virtual finance worlds’ - think World of War craft or Second Life - and digital money, such as Bit coin.
“Even while the nature and quality of money laundering through electronic currencies and virtual worlds are unknown, it is significant to know their potential for criminal development, particularly in response to improved regulation of established or traditional financial programmes,” the report stated.
"At this state, the misuse of digital foreign currencies and virtual worlds for money laundering is still very much the growing vulnerability," AUSTRAC CEO John Schmidt said.
"With that being said, AUSTRAC has undertaken research into the prospective money laundering threats posed by electronic payment techniques and new payment methods."
Virtual worlds, such as greatly multiplayer online games (MMOs), offer the opportunity for money laundering in those cases just where there’s a strategy for transforming some form of in-game credit (be it items or a imaginary currency employed by the game) into ‘real worldwide’ money.
“The requirements for virtual world money laundering to take place is that the community needs to have their own financial currency which can have actual world money going in and out of,” points out Dr Clare Chambers-Jones, associate professor in banking and finance law at the University of the West of England and contributor of Virtual Economies and Financial Crime: Money Laundering in Cyberspace.
“This process of placing and adding allows the dirty money to be laundered. There are few guidelines which prevent this from occurring,” Chambers-Jones announces.
“Some accumulated value card providers also allow their items to be used in a virtual world. These can then be sold back for real world currency,” Schmidt adds.
With the change of time & technologies, virtual world will be on the safer side.
Over the last two whole decades cybercrime has full grown from the early days of curiosity-driven cyber-terrorists and pranksters to a fully mature industry. In the process, much of the distinction between ‘traditional’ criminal act and online wrongdoing has been decreased. On the one hand organized crime now uses the web as another machine for dialogue and transferring illegal proceeds, on the other hand spam, phishing and trojans are mature criminal businesses that are growing to virtual finance frauds.
At the similar time as the internet has modified the way people socialize, entertain themselves and work, it’s insisted transform the unlawful underworld, providing new ways to make easy bucks - and new ways to use money laundering & it continues whether from typical crimes or cybercrime.
In July, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (also known , AUSTRAC) issued one of its periodic typologies data, which summarize money laundering case analysis as well as making an evaluation of growing approaches for laundering the proceeds of criminal act. Two of the “possible vulnerabilities” flagged by the latest typologies report were the use of ‘virtual finance worlds’ - think World of War craft or Second Life - and digital money, such as Bit coin.
“Even while the nature and quality of money laundering through electronic currencies and virtual worlds are unknown, it is significant to know their potential for criminal development, particularly in response to improved regulation of established or traditional financial programmes,” the report stated.
"At this state, the misuse of digital foreign currencies and virtual worlds for money laundering is still very much the growing vulnerability," AUSTRAC CEO John Schmidt said.
"With that being said, AUSTRAC has undertaken research into the prospective money laundering threats posed by electronic payment techniques and new payment methods."
Virtual worlds, such as greatly multiplayer online games (MMOs), offer the opportunity for money laundering in those cases just where there’s a strategy for transforming some form of in-game credit (be it items or a imaginary currency employed by the game) into ‘real worldwide’ money.
“The requirements for virtual world money laundering to take place is that the community needs to have their own financial currency which can have actual world money going in and out of,” points out Dr Clare Chambers-Jones, associate professor in banking and finance law at the University of the West of England and contributor of Virtual Economies and Financial Crime: Money Laundering in Cyberspace.
“This process of placing and adding allows the dirty money to be laundered. There are few guidelines which prevent this from occurring,” Chambers-Jones announces.
“Some accumulated value card providers also allow their items to be used in a virtual world. These can then be sold back for real world currency,” Schmidt adds.
With the change of time & technologies, virtual world will be on the safer side.