Due to the generalization of the Russian and international experience of AML/CFT, a number of schemes of money laundering were identified. The following criteria formed the basis of the typology of schemes:
- Methods of carrying out transactions;
- tools used in money laundering;
- persons involved in the crime;
- the object of laundering.
The study of standard schemes of money laundering makes it possible to find imperfections in the current system of combating money laundering.
Money laundering models:
1. Two-phase model. The first stage is called money laundering and is characterized by short-term operations. Criminals either exchange money or convert it into another currency. The second stage - recycling - is already understood at this stage of the operation as being of a medium- and long-term nature, and its implementation gives the impression that the proceeds have been obtained from legal sources, after which they are injected into the legal economy.
2. A four-phase model. As a rule, this model is applied by UN experts. Stages of the model:
- Conversion of cash from cash to non-cash, with subsequent crediting to the bank accounts of the front men;
- Distribution of cash;
- Hiding the traces of an offense;
- Integration of these funds.
3. three-phase model. It consists of three stages of money laundering: placement, stratification and integration. This model is the most common.
Layout - at this stage, cash is physically placed through investment through financial institutions, retail (e.g., the purchase of expensive goods, real estate), and at the same time, the money is geographically distant from the location14. At this stage, banks can be used to place funds on their accounts under the guise of business proceeds or to transfer funds abroad and legalize them in the form of foreign investments. This stage is the easiest one for detecting the signs of money laundering through bank control.
Stratification - using a complex chain of financial transactions to conceal the original source of income. At this stage, the initial amount may be subject to multiple splitting. This is followed by the placement of funds in accounts with different financial institutions. Placement can take place through the following transactions: bank transfer, purchase and resale of financial instruments (shares, bonds, traveler's cheeses, etc.), resale of liquid assets, investment in real estate or legal business. If no offense has been identified at this stage, then the offenders' future actions will be very difficult to track, as the entire transfer chain will have to be tracked in stages. At this stage, however, offshore zones and other jurisdictions that have a soft tax regime, insufficiently developed financial control and a high level of bank secrecy are often involved in the laundering process.
Integration is a stage of the process of legalization aimed directly at giving the appearance of legality to the criminally acquired state. At this stage, illegal proceeds are returned to the economy in a legal form. For example, the owner of the company bought the equipment, investing a part of the proceeds together with the illegal income, and then sold the equipment on the market. The proceeds from the sale will already be legal.
Or the owner can take a loan under the property, and then the loan can be repaid by selling it.
Legalized income is also subject to taxation, therefore, when integrating money into the legal economy, tools similar to those used to minimize the tax are used. As a rule, in the form of imaginary legal sources of criminal proceeds, such sources are chosen, which are subject to a low tax rate. Also, sometimes money is invested in activities that involve certain benefits.
However, it should be borne in mind that the laundering stages are not always clearly separated in practice, as it all depends on the specific schemes used by offenders.
It should also be borne in mind that money laundering schemes are sometimes improved more quickly than legislation is tightened. Accordingly, it is important to develop preventive measures against money laundering in order to combat money laundering effectively. Improvement of the automated banking system and timely implementation of all changes in legislation will allow to promptly identify operations aimed at money laundering and prevention of such activities.