Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the FATF equivalent for the Asia/Pacific region, has published its 2020 typologies report. The group provides these reports to help governments and organizations be up-to-date on the most recent developments and trends in regional ML/TF methods (or typologies) and threats. This typology analysis helps APG members to amend their AML/CFT strategies.
This year’s APG report highlights how organized crime groups have targeted COVID-19 related matters to commit frauds and launder money. Many APG members have reported how financial criminals are abusing government COVID-19 relief programs. For example, some cyber criminals are committing fraud by incorrectly claiming government benefits through stolen identity information. Online fraud linked to fake COVID-19-related medical products such as personal protective equipment and testing kits has also increased. Impersonation of law enforcement personnel, identity theft and fake charity scams are some other typologies that criminals have adopted. Further, APG members have also reported cases of terrorist financing, ML through offshore banks and virtual currencies, ML by lawyers, notaries and accountants, trade-based ML, underground banking or Hawala, etc.
To fight such crimes, APG organizes various events every year. However, in 2020, the group had to reschedule these events due to the pandemic. A digital KYC workshop, that the APG had earlier planned to conduct in March 2020, has now been scheduled for later this year. Similarly, a workshop that was planned to share the ways to combat human trafficking has now been postponed.
Source name: Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering