Family Members and Close Associates

Criminals place bond ownership under relatives or close associates by:

• Using family member identities to obscure beneficial ownership from financial institutions.
• Diverting scrutiny away from the true source of funds, hindering effective due diligence.

Criminals claim these individuals as recipients for remittances under the guise of family support or personal gifts by:

• Presenting plausible letters or relationship narratives to mask the illicit nature of the funds.
• Sending amounts inconsistent with the sender’s known financial profile, complicating the ability of financial institutions to confirm genuine familial ties or legitimate needs.

Pirates may demand ransom from the relatives of kidnapped crew members. Under duress, these payers sometimes resort to informal or unregulated routes to transfer funds, inadvertently masking the money’s illicit nature and challenging financial institutions' oversight.

Criminals instruct family members or close associates to send or receive funds on their behalf:

• These individuals may be unaware or complicit, enabling offenders to layer illicit proceeds.
• Financial institutions struggle to confirm true beneficial ownership when transactions appear under trusted personal relationships.