Post Offices targeted in £500m money-laundering crackdown

People are increasingly depositing money in Post Offices as banks close

Post Offices and high street businesses are being targeted in a £500m government crackdown on money laundering, with 500 fraud investigators set to hunt organised crime networks. Ministers say criminal kingpins are exploiting weaknesses in cash-handling systems to move profits around Britain and overseas, including to Russia.

Post Offices branded a major vulnerability

Post office branches have been identified as a “key vector” for dirty money, with officials warning they could also be exploited by hostile state actors. Since 2017, branches have been able to accept cash deposits for banks, but with less rigorous checks than those applied through some traditional banking channels.

Criminals can exploit the system by splitting large sums into smaller deposits and using multiple accounts. The government says the weakness has created a major vulnerability on Britain’s high streets, where illicit cash can be channelled into the financial system.

Crime spreads beyond barber shops

Officials say the problem is far wider than the barber shops traditionally associated with laundering. Petrol stations, vape shops and other high street businesses have also been identified as being used to circulate criminal proceeds.

Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and Kent and Essex have been identified as hotspots. The High Street Organised Crime Unit, launched in May, is focusing its efforts on disrupting these networks.

Vape shops are also problematic hubs of money laundering on the High Street

Ministers turn up pressure on kingpins

Security Minister Dan Jarvis warned criminal bosses that Britain was becoming a “much harder target”, promising they would be caught and brought to justice. The National Crime Agency estimates at least £12bn in criminal cash is generated and laundered in the UK every year.

The new strategy will also target Russian money-laundering networks and strengthen cooperation between the NCA and banks through a new Financial Intelligence Service. More than 100 drug couriers linked to major transnational investigations have already been arrested.

Billions in dirty money under attack

The government says it has prevented £1bn in dirty money from being moved, disrupted 2,700 illicit finance operations and returned £26m to victims, while laundering convictions have reached 4,000.

Treasury Minister Lucy Rigby said money laundering funds everything from hostile state activity to fraud and people smuggling. The government’s message is increasingly blunt: follow the money, seize the proceeds and make Britain a far harder place for criminal networks to operate.

Post Offices being used by Russian gang kingpins to launder their dirty cash | News UK | Metro News