KUALA LUMPUR: It is getting more difficult for authorities to weed out the threat posed by money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) activities due to the evolving nature of these illicit practices, coupled with advancements in modus operandi.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) told Berita Harian that key among the hurdles was the difficulty in tracing financial trails, exacerbated by rapid technological advancements and the utilisation of money mules to facilitate transactions.

This, in turn, hampers the investigative process for authorities upon receiving reports of suspected cases.

"Generally, a standard modus operandi for money laundering involves placement activity, layering and integration."

The ill-gotten gains are changed through a process using a certain financial system or instrument, it said.

"BNM along with the country's enforcement agencies are making efforts to identify the latest techniques used in money laundering. This is done via ML/TF risk assessment, which is scheduled and covers case studies and observations of the criminal activity trends.

"However, criminal and ML/TF activities keep changing with more advanced modus operandi. This is also influenced by factors such as technological development and usage of money mules, which makes it difficult to trace the financial trail," BNM told BH.

It said since last year, more than RM60 million in accounts were frozen and more than 43,000 money mule account holders were identified in operations conducted by the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC).

"The NSRC, which was established in October 2022 has recorded more than 19,000 complaints related to online scam cases," it said.

BNM said efforts were being done to improve the NSRC's effectiveness through a collaboration involving the central bank, private sector players such as PayNet and the banking industry which will lead to the launch of the National Fraud Portal (NFP) by the middle of this year.

NFP will improve effectiveness by automating the process within the NSRC's operation, including tracing financial transactions to allow for faster response in the effort to help victims of scams.

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/05/1046766/bnm-launch-national-fraud-portal