The act of money laundering is illegal in this country and throughout the world. It’s a practice that requires some skill on the part of the criminal and even more from the financial institution that they are trying to do it too. This is why AML ID VERIFICATION like that provided by companies such as www.w2globaldata.com/an-idiots-guide-to-aml-kyc-id-verification/ is a vital defence against crime.
Where does money laundering come from? Some of it is from simple counterfeiting of paper and coins, physical money as it were. This has become increasingly harder to achieve with the introduction of the plastic note and the change of shape to the one-pound coin. Using this money seeps it into the open market. The other most common way is to steal a valuable item and sell it on the underground market. This is commonly known as fencing the item. The money that the thief then has needs to be legitimised and opening a bank account or even using it as a deposit on a house can clean the money. The house is soon sold off at the earliest opportunity.
Banks and financial institutions have checks and balances to see where the source of deposits for accounts and mortgage deposits has come from. Banks are perfectly entitled to ask these questions. Other checks are in place as regular monitoring of accounts proceeds in the background. Another control is how you cannot sell a property until 6 months after you’ve first purchased it.
