Suspicious transactions rise in Macau

During the first half of the year suspicious activities jumped 37 percent in Macau.

Macau.- According to Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office (FIO), the number of suspicious transactions reports flagged by local casinos increased 37 percent during the first six months (H1) of the year.

The Office revealed that casino in Macau reported 1074 suspicious transactions between January and June 30, 2017, which is a significantly higher number than the 780 cases reported during the same period a year before. FIO said that the gaming sector is the biggest source of transaction reports, with a 70.3 percent of the statistics in the city state, only followed by financial institutions and insurance companies.

As the entity informed, a transaction is suspicious when there’s an incomplete or failure of customer due diligence (CDD). Transactions can also get flagged if there’s a failure to produce ID or personal information when acquiring or redeeming chips, and when players refuse bank and third-party remittance transactions.

“These hampered the quantity and quality of money laundering investigations and prosecutions, resulting in a low conviction rate, with a correspondingly low average sentence length ranging from three to five years for just the money laundering offense,” said FIO.