Laundering Money Online: a review of cybercriminals methods

TL;DR

This paper reviews how cybercriminals adapt their money laundering methods online, highlighting growth in online gaming and micro laundering through forum analysis, despite data sharing challenges.

Contribution

It provides a novel review of online money laundering techniques, emphasizing recent growth areas identified via forum analysis.

Findings

Growth in online gaming laundering methods

Emergence of micro laundering as a new trend

Challenges in quantifying underground activities

Abstract

Money laundering is a critical step in the cyber crime process which is experiencing some changes as hackers and their criminal colleagues continually alter and optimize payment mechanisms. Conducting quantitative research on underground laundering activity poses an inherent challenge: Bad guys and their banks do not share information on criminal pursuits. However, by analyzing forums, we have identified two growth areas in money laundering: online gaming and micro laundering.