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Canada's financial intelligence agency suspects online betting platforms are being used to launder proceeds from fentanyl dealing and production.
In an operational alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) says there is reason to believe people are depositing and withdrawing funds at online casinos to disguise proceeds from the traffic of fentanyl and other deadly opioids as wagers and winnings.
The newly published alert says known fentanyl traffickers have frequently sent money to digital gambling sites and received funds in return from associated payment processors in Canada, Malta and the United Kingdom.
Fintrac identifies cash linked to money laundering and terrorism by sifting through millions of pieces of data annually from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos and others.
The agency then discloses the resulting intelligence to its partners, including Canada's spy agency, the RCMP and other police services.
The operational alert flags numerous telltale signs to help businesses detect and report suspicious dealings that may be linked to highly addictive fentanyl, which has driven an overdose crisis in Canada.
In preparing the alert, Fintrac analyzed a sample of about 5,000 suspicious transaction reports related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids filed between 2020 and 2023.
Most of the reports involved the suspected distribution of synthetic opioids within Canada.
The intelligence agency also looked at data from foreign counterparts, assessments from other partners and open source information to help identify trends.
The alert says the illegal supply of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in North America has been driven by the growing involvement of organized crime groups known to use shady financial services in the darker corners of the internet.
"These groups are importing or diverting essential precursor chemicals and lab equipment from China and other Asian countries for the production of illegal synthetic opioids," the alert says.
"These threat actors are also using dark net marketplaces and virtual currencies to distribute and facilitate payments for fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids on an international scale, among other traditional methods."
