Typologies, Red Flags and Reporting

This panel provides an overview of key mechanisms used by criminals to move or launder illicit revenue of crimes related to land conversion, as well as trade-based money laundering, corruption and trafficking related to land conversion in commodity supply chains.  

Red flag indicators specific to financial crimes linked to land conversion have also been developed based on consultations with intended beneficiaries, desk-based research, and survey responses from financial services compliance professionals. Indicators are grouped into categories for FIs to use in their anti-financial crime due diligence, screening and monitoring.  

This panel is intended to help financial institutions identify the key signs of suspicious activity related to land conversion. Some of these red flags and mechanisms are common to other types of crime but are particularly relevant in this context.  

These red flags and mechanisms highlight the many methods by which the products of land conversion-linked financial crime are concealed within legitimate trade and financial flows. Hence, firms will need to assess how to incorporate this data into their systems based on the nature of their own business, and by combining it with other red flag indicators to minimise the amount of false alerts. 

Please note that not all red flags apply to all organisations and each organisation should select those that apply to them. 

The existence of a single indicator does not necessarily constitute a clear indication of illicit activity but does warrant further monitoring and examination, as appropriate (and should be taken in context with firm’s wider country risk assessment processes and frameworks). 

These lists of mechanisms and red flags are not exhaustive but are intended to provide an indication of the sorts of things that FIs should be looking out for as part of their screening processes.