In the last five years, social media has emerged as one of the most important sources for financial crime investigations, particularly for red flags for money laundering, such as identifying patterns of wealth that are inconsistent with income, and in making connections between members of organized crime.
On one Instagram account, we located a person who posted a video of a small warehouse full of cash in Dubai – so much that it would be equal to hundreds of millions of dollars. When we asked if it was money laundering, the user replied on Instagram to us: “Yes…
Us: “Money laundering?”
Instagram user: “Yes…”
And later, he posted another video filling up a bathtub with cash.
And in case you’re wondering, the Instagram account holder is from Azerbaijan but lives in Istanbul and Dubai and seems to be a diamond wholesaler.
And in case you are also wondering, yes, he has a base in Canada.
