AMLO targets bitcoin as crime networks turn to crypto-currencies

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AMLO targets bitcoin as crime networks turn to crypto-currencies

By The Nation

 

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THE ANTI-MONEY Laundering Organisation (AMLO) is drafting an amendment to legislation covering bitcoin and other crypto-currencies used in money laundering and other illegal activities to facilitate enforcement of the law in cases in which ill-gotten funds are converted into digital currencies.

 

Pol General Thanitsak Thirasawad, who is in charge of the national centre tasked with preventing and suppressing electronic and related fraud, said more than Bt20 million that had been accrued by unscrupulous call centres operating in Thailand had been converted into bitcoin and other digital currencies.

 

As a result, the AMLO needed to be empowered to follow the money trail involving digital currencies, since more than 90 per cent of criminal networks were using bitcoin to launder ill-gotten funds to avoid detection and legal action, he said.

 

Once the money is converted into digital units, the owners are anonymous, making it difficult to recover the funds, but the AMLO will soon be empowered to take more action against crypto-currencies used to hide ownership and ill-gotten funds.

 

Authorities yesterday also held a meeting with five bitcoin and other digital currency trading firms registered in Thailand to seek cooperation on cracking down on criminal activities, especially those carried out by illegal call centres that had lured innocent people into investing in unscrupulous investment schemes.

 

Due to misconceptions about bitcoin and other digital currencies whose prices have wildly fluctuated in global trading markets, many local investors have been attracted to illegal investment schemes promising high returns, resulting in embezzlement and other fraud.

 

Thanitsak said authorities needed to take urgent action to prevent the further spread of related financial crimes, especially after criminal networks had turned to bitcoin and other digital units to hide money cheated from innocent investors.

 

The Finance Ministry earlier issued a public warning about digital currencies, stating that bitcoin and other units were not legal tender under Thai law and that there was no real asset or economic value supporting those units so their prices only depended on supply and demand.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30337455

 

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