Trends & Typologies

Below are a list of Trends and Typologies practiced generally which you should be aware of:

Deposit and immediate withdrawal of cash

Individuals have been making cash deposits within the banking and credit union sectors, then immediately withdrawing the same amount of cash which was deposited. The withdrawal slips are then used as evidence of source of funds.

Business email compromise

The financial institution receives requests via email for wire transfers of sums of money purportedly from the customer, to unknown overseas accounts that are not in any way affiliated with the customer.

Structured deposits/smurfing

The customer intentionally deposits sums of money under the perceived threshold amount either by carrying out deposits several times over a short period of time for example a week or by depositing sums at several branches of the same financial institution, in the same day to avoid completing the Declaration of Source of Funds form. This has also been seen in the Money or Value Transfer Service (MVTS) sector where sums received by customers appear to be structured over a short period of time.

Deposit activity not in keeping with the customer’s profile

Generally, the customer has established a trend of deposit activity within a certain range, however, on notable occasions the deposit activity is well in excess of the established range; on several occasions these unusual deposits were large cash transactions accompanied by a reluctance to complete the Declaration of Source of Funds (DSF) form or the submission on the form of fictitious sources. Some of the financial institutions reported unusual large deposit activity where the customers’ business or workplace would have been closed during the period of “lockdown” as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

Use of fraudulent documents

Individuals have submitted fraudulent id(s), job letters, pay slips, bank statements in support of loan applications. There has also been the submission of fraudulent cheques on several occasions. These reports appear to have increased since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic especially, in the credit union sector. 

In the MVTS sector, there were several instances where a complicit employee of a company assisted in the creation of fraudulent job letters and payslips purporting that several individuals were employed there, in order to facilitate the obtainment of loans.  There were also several instances where fraudulent documents (ids; proof of address) were submitted as part of CDD information required by customers who are receiving funds in this sector.  

Mis-use of Money or Value Transmission Services (MVTS) Examples of MVTS are Western Union and MoneyGram; 

Individuals in Barbados receiving sums of money from disparate persons where there is no apparent association, as well as individuals sending sums to several persons abroad where there is no apparent affiliation.