Classified cybercrime categories highlighted: Key aspects distinguishing each drop defined by the cyber police
Criminal Network Operatives take care of cash and valuable items, transferring them to intermediaries or crooks anonymously.
Money Men accept and transfer funds, withdrawing cash or sending them on as needed. They keep a low profile.
Webshop Patrons receive monies and use it to buy goods and services online, which they then deliver to their clients or resell.
Delivery Boys get the funds to buy cryptocurrency or gift cards, then hand these over to the customer.
Investors put the money into illicit ventures that are part of the criminal enterprise.
It's significant to mention that a single drop can handle up to 2-2.5 million UAH per year. With the National Bank of Ukraine identifying 80,000 of these drops in a year, at least 200 billion UAH is laundered using this method annually. This means the government is missing out on over 50 billion UAH in taxes.
Interesting Insights:
- Fraud versus Theft: Criminal fraud entails intentional deceit for financial gain through false statements or hidden information (e.g., misleading investors or falsifying documents)[5].
- Pump-and-Dump Schemes: Commonly seen in stocks and cryptocurrency, these schemes artificially increase ("pump") asset prices before selling ("dumping") them at a peak[4].
- Cross-border Money Laundering: Funds are moved internationally to hide their origins, using methods such as insurance premiums, shell companies, or trade-based laundering[2].
What's the deal with "One Drop?"
- Possible Meaning:
- The term "one drop" might describe a localized, obscure scheme not widely covered in standard AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations.
- It could signify small, frequent transactions to avoid detection, though no specific "one drop" scheme is documented.
- Terminology Discrepancy:
- Established methods like "tumbling" (crypto mixing) or "smurfing" (structuring small deposits for laundering) differ in meaning [2].
Annual Laundering Estimates:
No specific global estimate for the "one drop" scheme is available. However:
- Global Money Laundering Estimates: The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that 2-5% of global GDP ($800 billion–$2 trillion annually) is laundered, although this includes all methods[^1^].
- Pump-and-Dump and Scams: Individual annual financial impacts of these practices aren't often measured in public data[3][4].
[^1^]: The UNODC statistic is general knowledge and not directly cited in the provided sources.
- Fraudsters, taking advantage of the obscure "one drop" scheme, might be laundering cryptocurrency anonymously, executing small, frequent transactions to evade detection and fall outside of standard AML regulations.
- The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) should consider investigating if these "one drop" transactions are being used to launder assets worth billions of UAH each year, as the government is missing out on taxes when these funds go unreported.
- If criminals are employing pump-and-dump schemes with cryptocurrency, it's worth noting the potential financial loss to unsuspecting investors who become victims of fraudsters looking to exploit this method.
