Precious Metals Trading Services

• Criminals convert illicit funds to gold or other metals through accounts or storefronts with lax checks, moving large sums without typical banking scrutiny.
• Repeated purchases and subsequent disposals in different jurisdictions help layer proceeds and disguise their criminal origins.

• Hot Transfer participants frequently use gold or other high-value metals as an informal currency, bypassing traditional banking channels.
• Physical transfers and minimal documentation limit banks’ visibility into the origin of funds.
• Enhanced identification and monitoring procedures for precious metals transactions reduce these laundering opportunities.

• Criminals may inflate or deflate precious metal valuations, disguising illicit proceeds as sales or purchases.
• They can misrepresent the origin or authenticity of metals, creating fictitious trade records to justify unexplained funds.

• Criminals purchase precious metals with illicit funds and physically move them across borders to conceal origins.
• Once relocated, they resell or trade these metals through legitimate channels, integrating laundered proceeds into the financial system.

• Enables criminals to convert illicit proceeds into portable, high-value metals or gemstones that are difficult to track.
• Underreporting transaction amounts and misrepresenting the source of funds helps circumvent conventional AML scrutiny.
• Once purchased, these commodities can be easily transported across borders and sold to reintroduce laundered funds into the financial system.

• Enables direct purchase and sale of gold, silver, or other metals as a way to convert illicit proceeds into portable, high-value assets.
• After transporting or holding metals, criminals resell them for ostensibly legitimate revenue, complicating AML oversight.

• Enables direct purchase of gold bars, coins, or bullion with potentially minimal identity verification, particularly in high-value transactions that occur through non-face-to-face channels.
• Allows criminals to exploit gold’s worldwide acceptability and subjective valuations to transform illicit cash into a seemingly legitimate commodity.

• Criminals claim large overseas purchases of precious metals (e.g., gold) that never materialize, justifying substantial cross-border fund movements.
• This apparent commodity trade conceals illicit sources by blending them with normal commercial activity.

• Criminals move illicit value into precious metals under misrepresented purity or quantity.
• Reselling metals through different jurisdictions or intermediaries obscures the transaction trail and true source of funds.

• Traffickers convert illegal proceeds into gold or other precious metals, using them as stable-value assets.
• Bulk purchases and sales in precious metals markets help integrate criminal income, blurring the origin of funds.

• Criminals can swiftly monetize unlawfully mined gold or other precious metals by selling through legitimate trading platforms, intermingling illegally sourced metals with legitimate inventory. • Facilitates the appearance of lawful revenue streams from the sale of metals, aiding in layering and integration of illicit proceeds into the financial system.