Are Terrorists Laundering Money Through Online Casinos?

UIGEA was first passed in 2006, after being snuck into the Safe Ports Act, with the supposed purpose of stopping terrorists from moving funds around by use of online casinos. The fact that there has never been any evidence of that in the public sector since it’s passage, has not stopped it’s supporters from wanting it enforced.

At the recent Cybercrime in Betting and Gaming conference in London, it was reported that security forces are now involved in conducting 23 current investigations. These investigations suggest that it may be possible that terrorists may have used online casinos to transfer money. It is a sure bet that the anti-online gaming forces will be using this as a weapon to help keep online gaming illegal in the United States.

The leads are apparently coming from three men convicted to inciting murder through web site exhortations. They are reported to have used Windows based Trojans in order to steal credit card numbers. After getting the credit card numbers, the money is laundered through the use of online casinos.

The three made over $3.5 million in fraudulent charges using stolen card numbers, stolen using phishing schemes and the use of Trojans. They made over 350 different transactions.

This information was made available at the conference by Robert Mitchell, Director of World Check. He stated these investigations could be much worse than they appear because they involve transnational groups using many countries in Europe and Asia. He said that the volume of money involved in staggering.

World Check is a private intelligence company. It works with an assists most of the world’s top banks and enforcement and regulatory agencies, and shares it’s databases of “heightened risk individuals and businesses” with them.