Freight Forwarding and Shipping Services

• Shell companies posing as import/export firms exploit shipping documentation to justify suspicious cross-border transactions.
• Minimally verified or fictitious shipment data complicates detection of inflated or nonexistent trade activities.

• Criminals dispatch high-value goods across borders with incomplete or misleading documentation, further distancing them from the original illicit funds source.
• By shipping gold bars, artworks, or collectibles internationally, launderers create additional layers, making global tracking and audits more challenging.

• Manipulated shipping papers can align with falsified invoices, creating the illusion of legitimate cross-border movements.
• Overstating or fabricating cargo details helps mask the real value or existence of goods involved in trade-based laundering.

• By providing inaccurate shipping manifests and cargo descriptions, criminals disguise the true goods or their actual value, facilitating under- or over-invoicing practices.
• Complex logistics chains and multiple handoffs allow for discrepancies that can shield illicit transactions from straightforward detection.

• Falsified shipping manifests or customs declarations mask actual contents or misstate shipment values, concealing suspicious flows.
• Use of counterfeit bills of lading and related documents facilitates the movement of illicit funds under the guise of legitimate cargo.

• Criminal intermediaries arrange shipments under-invoiced or misdeclared to reduce import duties or hide true cargo value.
• Submitting incomplete or deceptive shipping records helps obscure the illicit origin of funds used to settle shipping and import costs.

• Generate or manipulate shipping documents (bills of lading, export/import details) for agricultural goods to justify suspicious fund movements.
• Invent or inflate shipping volumes and routes to account for nonexistent produce, obscuring true farmland yields and laundering proceeds.

• Falsified shipping documents or bills of lading can be generated for nonexistent jewelry exports or imports.
• These fake logistics records reinforce the illusion of legitimate trade, layering illicit funds.

• By re-routing shipments through unexpected intermediaries, criminals hide the final destination or origin of illicit goods.
• Falsified shipping manifests and logistical details blur the trail back to the true source, impeding authorities’ ability to link products to criminal proceeds.

• Fraudsters generate shipping documents for goods that do not exist or were never actually dispatched.
• False transport records reinforce the illusion of legitimate trade for the fabricated sales.

• Criminals arrange ‘phantom shipments’ or reship the same goods multiple times, creating artificial trade flows.
• Convoluted shipping documentation across various ports and jurisdictions hides the cyclical movement of funds linked to these supposed transactions.

• Manipulating shipping routes, cargo descriptions, and supporting documentation within free trade zones allows criminals to mask illicit activities.
• Repetitive, non-economic shipping patterns (“round-tripping”) and discrepancies in cargo manifests are often used to disguise the movement of illicit funds.

• Criminals exploit cross-border shipping of jewelry with falsified or missing documentation—such as absent Kimberley Process Certificates—obscuring illicit origins.
• By moving pieces through multiple jurisdictions and forwarding agents, they complicate tracing and enable repeated revaluation or resale.

• Illicit actors inflate or fabricate shipping and import fees for collectible items, fostering additional layers of purported expenses.
• These artificially high charges appear as legitimate logistics costs, complicating tracing and concealing the criminal origins of funds.

• Criminals can blend illicit goods with legitimate cargo to evade detection during transit.
• Falsified shipping manifests and misdeclared cargo facilitate the cross-border movement of contraband, circumventing duties and screening.

• Misdeclare diamond shipments under generic commodities or undervalued invoices to avoid detection.
• Use trans-shipment routes in jurisdictions with lax controls to mask the origin or destination of smuggled diamonds.
• Forge or omit required certificates, including Kimberley Process documentation, complicating traceability.

• Criminals mislabel or conceal contraband cigarette shipments as duty-free or unrelated goods, exploiting these services to evade excise taxes and customs.
• Multiple transshipment points or routing changes can obscure final destinations and reduce the likelihood of detection by authorities.

• Criminals falsify shipping documentation and commodity declarations, obscuring the true nature or value of precious metals.
• Complex logistics and routing channels reduce transparency, allowing smugglers to bypass customs controls and launder illicit funds.
• Enhanced due diligence in shipping documentation, route tracking, and physical inspections is crucial to detect disguised shipments.

• Illicit metals or stones can be hidden among legitimate cargo, with criminals mislabeling or routing shipments through multiple jurisdictions to avoid detection.
• Minimal oversight in certain corridors enables the discrete movement of high-value commodities to be sold elsewhere for ‘clean’ funds.

• Allow discrete cross-border movement of gold bars, bullion, or reclassified 'scrap' gold to evade scrutiny and export restrictions.
• Criminals can utilize mislabeling or vague shipment documentation to obscure the gold’s actual value, complicating law enforcement tracking.

• Criminals rotate small parcels of diamonds through multiple jurisdictions, using intermediaries to mask actual shipping routes and forging invoices or shipping documents.
• This repeated cross-border movement under various freight arrangements obscures the origin of funds and confounds regulatory and law enforcement monitoring.

• Criminals can mix illicitly harvested goods (e.g., timber, fish, minerals) with legitimate shipments, masking the origin and nature of contraband.
• Falsified shipment documents help conceal or misrepresent the quantity or type of cargo, facilitating unhindered cross-border transport of illicit environmental proceeds.

• Criminals can hide bulk cash within cargo shipments (e.g., in hidden compartments or mislabeled goods) to evade detection at border checkpoints.
• Exploitation of complex global logistics and weak customs oversight allows illicit funds to pass under the guise of legitimate freight.

• Criminals may present falsified bills of lading or manifests to freight forwarders, masking the true nature, quantity, or existence of goods.
• Multiple or inconsistent versions of shipping documents can be submitted for the same cargo, making it harder to detect fraudulent shipments or ghost shipping schemes.

• Collusive or negligent freight forwarders may knowingly accept or facilitate forged documents indicating cargo movement when none occurs.
• This enables perpetrators to claim a legitimate logistics chain for ghost shipments, disguising the absence of real goods and complicating detection of illicit fund flows.

• Collusive or complicit freight forwarders may issue bogus or partial shipping records.
• These records support inflated invoices and false cargo manifests, maintaining an illusion of legitimate trade flows.

• Criminals repeatedly ship the same commodities or leave them unclaimed, leveraging complex shipping routes across various jurisdictions.
• Layering occurs when forged bills of lading or duplicative submissions create confusion regarding actual ownership and value.

• Phantom shipping, where goods never actually move, is disguised through false cargo documents and route changes.
• Illicit items are blended with legitimate freight, or shipment details are altered, masking the nature and value of transported goods.

• Criminals can misdeclare cargo volumes or blend different fuel grades, using falsified shipping records that hide the true nature or value of oil shipments.
• By forging documents (e.g., bills of lading), they introduce discrepancies between actual shipments and official paperwork, allowing illicit funds to flow under the guise of normal freight operations.

• Criminals exploit the warehousing component of freight and shipping offerings to store contraband under bonded warehouse arrangements, mingling illicit goods with legitimate shipments.
• They repeatedly re-label or repackage items to disguise their true origin or classification, limiting effective oversight and frustrating auditors seeking to verify the legitimacy of stored goods.
• Minimal on-site verification and prolonged storage under customs supervision hamper the identification of beneficial owners.

• Criminals can alter shipping routes or manifests mid-journey, disguising the actual nature and value of goods.
• Layered shipping arrangements and free trade zones obscure beneficial ownership and hamper investigations.

• Illicit shipments of narcotics or precursor chemicals are concealed among legitimate cargo, leveraging these logistics channels to move products and proceeds across borders.
• Fraudulent shipping documents or mislabeled cargo can hide evidence of illegal activity and facilitate multi-jurisdictional distribution networks.

• Can disguise the true nature or quantity of banned or illegally sourced goods through falsified transportation documents.
• Import-export entities leverage these services to integrate contraband with legitimate cargo, complicating audits.

• Facilitate cross-border transportation and distribution of counterfeit goods, often hidden within legitimate shipments.
• Provide opportunities to manipulate or forge shipping documents (e.g., bills of lading), disguising the illicit nature of goods and evading regulatory scrutiny.

• Arms traffickers conceal weapon shipments among legitimate cargo or mislabel them to evade detection by customs or law enforcement.
• Complex routing and falsified shipping documentation obscure the origin and destination of arms, hindering AML efforts.

• Criminals arrange cross-border shipments of counterfeit medicines, often mislabeled or with falsified documentation to conceal the illicit nature of the goods.
• Large-scale international shipping supports widespread distribution and complicates law enforcement tracking.

• Criminals mislabel or under-declare illegal timber, fish, or wildlife cargo to smuggle them as legitimate goods.
• False documentation during shipping ensures proceeds appear to stem from lawful trade, facilitating money laundering.

• Criminals commingle illegally harvested logs with legitimate cargo to hide the timber’s true origin.
• Altered or forged shipping documents mask shipping routes, volumes, and species, complicating law enforcement efforts to identify illegal wood.

• Criminals mislabel protected species as legitimate cargo or falsify shipping documents to conceal illicit wildlife shipments.
• The use of complex logistics networks with multiple transit points obscures true origins and destinations, hindering law enforcement detection.

• Facilitates cross-border transport of illegally mined minerals under falsified customs declarations, disguising true origin and quantity. • Provides logistical cover for mixing illicit shipments with legitimate cargo, reducing detection risk and enabling global distribution of illicitly sourced minerals.

• Fraudsters may falsify shipping documents or misrepresent cargo volumes to support inflated tax rebate claims on exports.
• These services can provide cover for sham cross-border shipments, concealing the absence of genuine trade activity.

• Criminals can manipulate shipping documents and declared cargo details to justify inflated export values.
• Complex routing or multi-stop shipments may obscure the true origins, volumes, or pricing, helping disguise overvalued exports.