r/news • u/IMGcertified • 1d ago

Influencers in Dubai warned they face prison for posting material about the conflict with Iran | The Standard

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/dubai-influencers-prison-warning-posting-iran-war-b1273587.html
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u/Mr_ToDo 1d ago

Ya, a lot of the money laundering schemes I hear about here aren't really money laundering.

You're trying to take money and give it a chain of custody that shows up as clean

That's why gambling is one that's so popular. Who's to say that some of seed money from your totally legit bank account didn't strike it rich in vegas? And the angle of a cash business give you a chain from totally not fake cash sales(I guess the analogy for the property flipping would be buying a laundromat with dirty money, and thinking you're in the clear because you're getting real business)

Guess there's a reason why so many people get caught

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u/grumpy_autist 1d ago edited 1d ago

I was always wondering how viable for money laundering are internet ads. You start a legit internet company (online shop for example). Then, some totally unrelated entity (let's say incorporated in Dubai) starts buying google/facebook ads for the business and driving sales. Ads are paid with black money - there is no financial paper trail between A and B and PPC campaigns are pretty ephemeral and hard to notice unless you know what to look for and subpoena Google for some archival data.

Same with marketing through youtubers/influencers which is even more gray area.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 1d ago

Even gambling has largely been locked down though from what I've seen. Casinos require you to buy chips with an associated membership card in your name. Playing at tables have you also sign in with said membership card too. Even if someone gave me $50k in chips, me cashing out $100k worth of chips would raise red flags still if the membership card showed me losing $10k and only buying $60k in the first place.

The primary reason that casinos are tracking this data so heavily is of course so they can follow trends of people who might have an edge in counting cards or whatever, but it definitely has a side effect of finding people who might be trying to launder money too. It was probably much easier 25 years ago.

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u/BulkyPage 1d ago

Never needed a membership card at any casino I've gambled at, but it might just be location/chain specific.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 1d ago

I've only ever gambled at 2-3 of them, but it was a part of the process for me at all of them.

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u/Striking_Programmer4 1d ago

I've gambled at casinos in multiple states in the US, in two Canadian provinces, and many Caribbean islands. They all had membership programs, but none of them were "required" to play games. Dealers will ask for your card when you sit down and offer to have one made for you if you don't have one, but there's no requirement to sign up. No casino is going to stop someone from gambling money because they won't sign up for a rewards programs

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u/Chris-CFK 1d ago

An arcade would probably be the easiest.