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International Convention Vietnamese Law

In addition to the provisions on imprisonment for drug According to Clause 2, Article 32 of the
crimes, according to Point b, Clause 1, Article 36 of the
1961 Unified Convention on Narcotic Drugs, it is Vietnamese Penal Code, there are still
stipulated that: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, when
drug abusers commit these crimes, the Parties may no regulations on considering
apply to them measures of treatment, education, post-
treatment care, rehabilitation and reintegration into treatment, education, post-treatment
society in accordance with Clause 1, Article 38 instead
of the execution of the sentence or punishment, or as care, rehabilitation and reintegration
a supplementary measure to the punishment” and
Point b, Clause 1, Article 22 of the 1971 Unified into society as additional penalties.
Convention on Psychotropic Substances, it is stipulated
that: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, when addicts of
psychotropic substances commit these crimes, the
Parties may apply to them measures of treatment,
education, post-treatment care, rehabilitation and
reintegration into society in accordance with the
provisions of ... 20”.

On the elements of the crime: In Vietnam's Criminal Code, when

Article 3, paragraph 3 of the United Nations Convention considering the elements constituting a
on the Law of the Sea 1988 provides: “The knowledge, crime, lawmakers do not consider
intent or purpose of the illegal traffic in narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances purpose as a necessary factor.
The purpose considered as a constitutive element of Accordingly, the crime will include
the following 4 elements:
the crime prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article can be
·Cytoplasm.
verified by objective factual circumstances.” ·Object.
·Currently.
·Objective side.
In addition, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances listed in the appendix of the 1961
Convention and the 1971 Convention are classified according to different tables with different
dangerousness. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Penal Code only differentiates criminal liability
according to weight for some common drugs (heroin, cocaine, opium resin, cannabis resin, coca
resin, etc.). The remaining drugs are classified as liquid or solid drugs when determining weight as
a basis for determining the penalty framework.
-Not compatible in defining specific crimes:

Evaluati 3 International Conventions on Narcotic Drugs Vietnamese Law

on
criteria

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I am in Point ii) a, Clause 1, Article 3 of the 1988 Article 247 of the Penal Code and
Convention stipulates that the cultivation must Clause 1, Article 5 of the Law on
the drug Drug Prevention and Control only
be for purposes contrary to the provisions of the regulate the act of planting but do
lord tree Convention. not regulate the purpose.

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 Crime Point iii) a, Clause 1, Article 3 of the 1988 Article 249 of the Penal Code,
of drug Convention, possession for the purpose of possession of weapons is only
possessi carrying out any activity at point i) including the considered as stipulated in this
on purpose of trading, transporting, manufacturing Article when it is not for the
purpose of buying, selling,
transporting or producing.
I use Article 3, paragraph 2 of the 1988 Convention Current Vietnamese law
provides that each Party shall take such stipulates the illegal use of
illegal measures as may be necessary to establish as a narcotics in the Penal Code.
criminal offence under its domestic law, the Illegal use of narcotics is subject
drugs intentional use of narcotic plants or psychotropic to administrative penalties
substances for personal use contrary to the according to Decree
provisions of the 1961 Convention, the 1961 144/2021/ND-CP.
Convention as amended or the 1971 Convention.

The improvement of Vietnamese law according to the provisions of international conventions

should be carried out in the following direction:
- Supplementing the Preamble as well as some general regulations of the Penal Code,
regulations on the tasks of the Penal Code, handling principles, concepts of crime... in the spirit of
Vietnam's commitment to the international community in international cooperation activities to
prevent and combat international crimes, especially drug crimes.
- Amend the complicity regime in the direction of adding provisions on organized crime groups
in accordance with the United Nations Convention on other types of crimes and transnational
organized drug crimes. Research and add the crime of organizing criminal gangs in the Crimes
Section of the Penal Code, in order to limit drug crimes committed by gangs and groups.
- Systematically review the provisions of the Penal Code and the Law on Drug Prevention and
Control to compare them with the provisions of international conventions on drug control and
prevention to make appropriate amendments and supplements.
- Research and reduce the death penalty for drug-related crimes compared to other types of
crimes in a reasonable manner, ensuring the balance of punishment between groups of crimes
prescribed together,...

GAME 4: INTERNATIONAL FAIRY LAUNDERING CRIME

Question 1: Assess the compatibility of Vietnamese law with international law on money
laundering crime.money
* COMPATIBILITY POINTS:
+In Vietnam: Article 324, Penal Code 2015 and Article 1, Article 4 of the Penal Code 2012. In the
trend of integration and before the requirement to criminalize this crime when our country is a
member of international treaties related to money laundering.
+ Clause 1, Article 3, Vienna Convention 1988:
-“The act of converting or transferring property when knowing that such property is obtained
from drug trafficking or from participating in criminal activities with the purpose of concealing the
origin of the property or helping the person committing the above acts to evade legal responsibility
for his/her actions;
- The act of concealing or disguising the natural form, origin, location, determination, transfer of
ownership of property or rights related to property that is clearly known to be property obtained
from drug trafficking crimes;
- The act of purchasing, storing or using property while knowing that it is property obtained from
drug trafficking crimes".
+ Article 6, Palecmo Convention 2000:
-“(i) Converting or transferring property, knowing that it is the proceeds of crime, with the aim
of concealing or disguising the illegal origin of such property or with the aim of helping anyone
involved in the commission of the underlying crime to evade legal liability due to the conduct of that
person.

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15
hybrid;
- (ii) Concealing or disguising the true nature, origin, location of the transfer, transfer or
ownership or rights related to property, knowing that such property is the result of crime;
- (iii) Subject to the basic concepts of the national legal system: Receiving, possessing or
using property, knowing at the time of receipt that such property is the result of a crime;
Participating in, coordinating or conspiring to commit an act, attempting to commit an act or
aiding, abetting, facilitating and plotting to commit any crime corresponding to the provisions
of this article when clearly knowing that the property is the result of a drug trafficking crime.
+D.23, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
2003:
(a) (i) Converting or transferring property, knowing that it is the proceeds of crime, with
the intent to conceal or disguise the illegal origin of the property or to assist any person
involved in the commission of the predicate offence to evade legal responsibility for his or
her actions;
(ii) Concealing or disguising the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement or
ownership of or rights with respect to property, knowing that such property is the proceeds
of crime;
(b) Depending on the basic concepts of one's own legal system:
(i) Receiving, possessing or using property, knowing at the time of receipt that such
property is the result of crime;
(ii) Participate in, coordinate with or conspire to commit, attempt to commit or aid, incite,
facilitate and plot to commit any crime specified in this Article.
- Regarding the fault factor: both the convention and the Vietnamese Penal Code
stipulate that the crime is committed intentionally at the time of committing the money
laundering act, the offender knows that the subject of the act is property obtained from
crime (Palermo Convention); the provisions of the 2015 Penal Code clearly affirm that the
mental state of the offender when laundering property not obtained by his/her crime is
"knowing or having basis to know that it is obtained by another person's crime".
- Regarding objective behavior: the objective behaviors of the crime of money
laundering in the 2015 Penal Code have been regulated more specifically and are quite
similar to the behaviors regulated in the Palermo Convention.
- Regarding subjects: including individuals and legal entities.
- Regarding the purpose: Making "poor" money cleaner or in other words, creating the
"safest" distance between illegal assets and the owners of those assets. For the group of acts
"concealing the origin, true nature, location, movement or ownership of money and assets
obtained through one's own crime or knowing or having grounds to know that they were
obtained through another's crime", both the Palermo Convention and the 2015 Penal Code
do not require a sign that the purpose of the act is "concealing the illegal origin of the
assets" because the crime itself is an act of concealing the illegal aspects of the assets.
- Regarding predicate crimes: Article 324 of the 2015 Penal Code does not limit the
scope of predicate crimes. This is understood that all types of crimes, including less serious
crimes, can become predicate crimes of money laundering. This provision is consistent with
the recommendations of the Palermo Convention.
→ Viewed from many different angles and aspects, the concept of money laundering
has the following general points in common: (1) Money laundering is the act of handling
money and assets obtained from crimes in different ways to conceal their illegal origins,
creating a legal appearance for the profits obtained illegally from crimes. (2) Money
laundering is essentially an act of legalizing money and assets obtained from crimes from
easily detected to money and assets that are difficult to detect.

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 *COMPATIBILITY POINTS:

Criteria Palermo Convention BLHS 2015

When performing the act of converting or At point b clause 1 Article 324 when
Objective
transferring assets, the offender must committing the acts of "using money or
property obtained from crime or
have the purpose of "concealing the illegal knowing or having basis to know that it
origin of the assets". was obtained from another person
committing a crime to conduct business
activities or other activities", the
offender does not necessarily have the
intention to conceal the illegal origin of
that money or property.

Scope of seaweed Closer

Specifically: According to the provisions Specifically: when criminalizing the acts
acts of the Palerma Convention, the hidden of "concealment", the 2015 Penal Code
object is not only information but also only limits the concealed object to
consider includes the "location of assets" and "information".
"movement process".
ed
criminal
Regarding the types of assets that are the Joint Circular No. 09/2011 explains:
subject of the crime of money laundering, Property includes “objects, money,
Interactiv valuable papers and property rights; real
e Lie Article 2(d) of the Convention clearly estate, movable property, benefits,
states: “Property in every form, whether income, main objects, auxiliary objects,
tangible or intangible, movable or divisible objects, indivisible objects,
consumable objects, non-consumable
immovable, material or immaterial, and all objects, homogenous objects, specific
documents or instruments having legal objects, synchronized objects and
value indicating ownership of, or interests property rights”. Equating specific types
in, such property”. Thus, the Convention of property with the definition of
property is unreasonable and does not
has applied a very broad understanding of ensure logic compared to the Palermo
the subject of the crime of money Convention.
laundering.

*PROPOSAL FOR IMPROVING THE LAW

- First, about the behavior, purpose and fault element. To be consistent with the nature of money
laundering, the group of behaviors mentioned in point b, k1, article 342 of the 2015 Penal Code
needs to add the criminal purpose of "concealing the illegal origin of assets". However, the way of
listing a few common forms of money laundering and then opening up to all other forms is not
appropriate. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate point a and point b, clause 1, article 324 of the
Penal Code according to the model of the Palermo Convention.
- Second, on the subject of impact. Through research, it is shown that not limiting the
quantitative impact of the crime of money laundering as currently regulated can lead to the
prosecution of low-value money laundering acts with insignificant danger to society. Therefore, we
should learn from the legislative experience of some countries in limiting the minimum amount of
assets that can be laundered.
- Third, on source crimes. To have a legal basis and unify awareness in practical application. Joint
Circular No. 09 should supplement guidance on this issue.
Question 2: Analyze the consequences of the crime of money laundering
In recent years, countries around the world have become more and more concerned about
money laundering, as money laundering has also developed on a larger scale. Although money
laundering does not directly affect human life and property, it does not bring about terrifying scenes.

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 Although it does not immediately affect the daily life of each citizen, "money laundering"
increasingly affects each subject in the economy and becomes a concern of most countries in
the world. Moreover, the worrying consequence is the risk of increased crime caused by
money laundering. The cleanup of the origin of criminal money has encouraged criminal
organizations and individuals to continue committing crimes. Money laundering can occur in
any country in the world and this is an act that knows no borders. By sophisticated tricks,
criminal gangs seek to create a "clean record" for their illegal money. These activities have
caused negative impacts on the macro economy in general and the financial sector in
particular. These impacts are shown in the following points:
* The impact of money laundering on the economy
Money laundering affects many aspects of the economy such as: the banking system is
weakened, even manipulated by criminals, the demand for money is sudden and the interest
rate and exchange rate are unstable; Statistics are distorted, making it difficult to make
policies and reducing the effectiveness of the Government's regulatory tools. The circulation
of money flows in the underground world causes unusual fluctuations in the demand for
money, causing instability in interest rates and exchange rates in the currency market of any
country, including Vietnam. Underground economic activities have a negative impact on the
investment environment, shifting from important investments to high-risk investments,
slowing down economic growth and stimulating the development of crimes such as tax
evasion, corruption, commercial fraud, and drug trafficking... Besides,
In addition, underground transactions also reduce the economic efficiency of legal
transactions, causing a loss of confidence in the market. The inevitable consequence is that
the entire financial banking system is weakened, and can even be manipulated by criminal
gangs... Specifically:
- Distorting investment direction leads to economic instability: For policy makers or
genuine investors, the areas they are interested in are industries and fields that serve the
great needs of society and the country, areas that bring about stable and sustainable
development. On the contrary, for money laundering criminals, what they are interested in is
which industry and field is most convenient for hiding illegal money, so they often invest in
areas that serve the needs of rich people in society such as tourism and high-end
entertainment. This will cause the economy to develop in a distorted, unstable way, and
cause unpredictable consequences.
In addition to the effects on the allocation of investment capital to the economy, the flow
of “poor” money will also distort economic statistics. For example, it is difficult for the
Government to know exactly how much money is in circulation, how much is domestic and
how much is foreign. For the economy in general, the effects of each type of “poor” money
are different (for example, “poor” money due to corruption has a different effect on the
economy and society than “dirty” money due to smuggling. “Poor” money due to corruption
corrupts the state cadres and civil servants, causing loss of state assets. “Poor” money due to
smuggling leads to the state losing tax revenue, not being able to control the real value of
goods circulating in the country, causing unreasonable competition between honest traders
and smugglers). Without accurate figures, of course, economic policy (especially monetary
policy) will not be correct and effective.
- Affects the reputation of the country. For developing countries including Vietnam, the
need to integrate, attract foreign investment capital and develop economic sectors to reach
the world level is an urgent need. If anti-money laundering activities are not effective and do
not create trust in the financial market, not only will foreign investors be afraid but the door
to international integration for our country will also gradually narrow. In terms of economics,
the penetration of dirty money into a country's economy entails negative consequences for
the operation of that country's economy. For example, it causes a loss of trust among those
who want to deposit money in financial institutions because these institutions operate in a
non-transparent manner.
- Weakening the financial and monetary system. Financial systems that rely on illicit sources of money face

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name"
There are many challenges in managing the assets, debts and operations of these financial
institutions. There are banks established by money launderers to receive money obtained from
criminal activities. But there will be people with money and legitimate income deposited in these
banks and when a bank or a financial institution is prosecuted, the genuine depositors will suffer
losses. In addition, money laundering can cause the bank to collapse or disrupt the financial market.
Money launderers often deposit money in banks to invest in a very short time. At some point, they
will quickly withdraw all the money, which greatly affects the normal operation of the bank, leading
to the risk that economic activities invested with "poor" money will destabilize the normal economic
regulatory mechanisms. Money laundering also easily leads to corruption and bribery in the financial
and banking sectors, because for a financial system that is easy to penetrate, money launderers can
bribe that system to be able to deposit money. Thus, money launderers do not hesitate to spend
large sums of money to achieve the purpose of money laundering. For example, a drug dealer who
makes a profit of 1,000 VND is willing to lose 500 VND to be able to deposit the remaining 500 VND
into the legal financial system.
- Weakening the private economic sector: When investing in the private economic sector, money
launderers will not put profit as the top priority. Their purpose when hiding under disguised
companies is to hide and clean up dirty money, mixing as much illegal money with legal economic
activities as possible. To do so, money launderers are willing to lose a certain amount of "dirty"
money, to legalize the remaining money. Legal business activities are just a cover, but in fact, the
illegal money has subsidized the entire operation of the disguised company. In many cases, these
disguised companies can offer products at prices lower than the cost of the product. Therefore, these
companies
Disguised companies have a competitive advantage over legitimate companies in attracting capital
from financial markets. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for legitimate businesses to
compete with disguised companies with subsidized capital. In this case, criminal organizations that
launder money through disguised companies have harmed the majority of other private businesses.
Criminal enterprises can even turn manufacturing enterprises into “necessary” enterprises, by no
longer using these enterprises to produce and do business to generate profits, but only using them as
front enterprises, not reproducing. Such an enterprise does not meet the needs of consumers, does
not create resources for economic development.
- Makes economic reform in developing countries fail to achieve its goals. For countries that are
privatizing or equitizing state-owned enterprises, money laundering organizations are able to pay
higher prices than legitimate investors to buy state-owned enterprises. When illicit funds are invested
in this way, criminals will increase their potential to commit more crimes and cause more corruption,
as well as deprive people of legitimate tax money because when investing in state-owned enterprises
that are being equitized, they are given priority in tax exemptions, land use fees, etc.

* The impact of money laundering on society

Besides the effects on the economy, money laundering also causes significant problems for
society:
- Creates conditions for crime and social evils to develop. Successful money laundering creates
conditions for other types of crime to increase, which is the source of poverty money, allowing drug
dealers, smugglers and other criminals to expand their scope of activities. Therefore, it increases the
Government's costs to fight and overcome the serious consequences caused by money laundering.
These derivative, peripheral costs are quite large such as maintaining a large system of law
enforcement agencies, costs for public health care due to the impact of drugs, prostitution, etc.
Money laundering makes corruption develop, leading to the transfer of economic power from the
market, prison to the Government.

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 government, from the people to the criminals, leading to the state power can also be
corrupted, turning into a tool of the Mafia.
- Negative impact on income distribution (causing social injustice): The negative impacts
of money laundering on the economy have led to a series of social problems, which directly
affect people's income, making the gap between rich and poor in society increasingly deeper.
Because money laundering has inflated the value of assets higher than their actual value, it
leads to market disruption, creating an unhealthy competitive environment, making
individuals and organizations doing business honestly fall into a difficult situation.
Question 3: Methods and tricks of money laundering -
Money laundering methods and tricks are increasingly diverse, sophisticated and
organized to deceive the authorities. All methods and tricks are only to turn the proceeds of
crime into clean money circulating in the market. In theory, to carry out money laundering,
criminal organizations and individuals carry out the following steps:
First, introduce poor money into the financial economic system.
The purpose of this step is to transform the original form of illegal income and separate
them from the criminal organization to avoid detection by competent state agencies. The
methods used by criminals in this stage are very diverse, such as: dividing the illegal money
into small pieces to deposit in banks many times so that the amount each time does not
exceed the control level that must be declared according to the law of each country; changing
from one currency to another, or changing money from low denomination to high
denomination; buying precious metals, gemstones, or luxury goods with money whose value
can be much greater than the real value; smuggling money abroad to deposit in foreign
banks... This stage is considered the most difficult for criminals because the money and assets
obtained are illegal and are being monitored by the investigation agency.
Second, money turnover
The second stage of money laundering occurs after illegal profits have entered the
financial system. In this stage, money launderers use poor money to conduct as many financial
transactions as possible, especially cross-border transactions, to create a complex, intricate
and difficult-to-trace transaction network. Money can be converted into securities, real estate,
auctioned assets... and bought and sold many times with the purpose of keeping the money as
far away from its original source as possible. Money launderers can also disguise and legalize
these funds through the form of payment for goods, services or investment transfer to a
company or business. In this stage, thousands of operations are performed, causing money to
move everywhere, circulating many times to erase traces of crime, artificially cutting off the
connection between assets and criminal organizations. Any country with a more open
corporate and banking legal system is more susceptible to exploitation through the
establishment of “ghost” companies. In addition, sophisticated financial transactions such as
participation in the high-end financial market associated with the use of advanced banking
technology such as Internet Banking also make investigation difficult.
Third, integrate laundered money into the economic system.
Legal investment, abbreviated as “integration”. This is when criminals use laundered
money and assets to legally invest in production and business activities in forms such as
investment capital for enterprises, personal loans, stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. Investing in
production and business enterprises will increase the value of criminal money, mixing legal and
illegal money. No matter how many transactions the money is circulated through, the final
destination is still the original criminal organization. This is also a difficult stage to be able to
determine the behavior that constitutes a crime.

Through the steps of money laundering, the launderer is willing to lose a part of the
money, in order to legalize and put the remaining money into the financial system in a clean
and legal way. The basic requirement for money laundering to be successful is:

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Success is to be able to cleverly erase all traces of transaction documents. Avoiding customs
declarations, infiltrating the banking system, delaying the provision of documents... are common
tricks that help criminals achieve this goal. For countries where the legal mechanism is not strong
enough to determine the origin of money, it is easy to become a "paradise" for money launderers to
infiltrate.
That is in theory, but in reality, not in any case are these three steps completely separate and
easily recognizable. Money laundering can be very complicated, through many different
intermediaries, with many transactions and the participation of many different subjects to destroy
the criminal origin of the money. The methods and tricks of committing crimes in general and
money laundering in particular are always very complicated and sophisticated. The tricks of
committing money laundering crimes are always closely linked to loopholes in the legal system of
each country, especially criminal law, economic management law, banking and finance law... In
countries with incomplete legal systems, there are many opportunities for criminals. At the same
time, this method is also associated with the activities of business service establishments with a
high rate of cash payments such as restaurants, hotels1, casinos... Along with the development of
information technology networks, especially the internet, money laundering through this system
has become easier, but very difficult to control... Based on the synthesis of documents reflecting
the practice of preventing and combating money laundering in many different countries, we can
draw out the following common money laundering methods and tricks:
2.1. Money laundering through the system of financial institutions
Financial institutions, including banks or money service companies that are increasingly
widespread in countries around the world, have been and are being the unconscious or intentional
elements that help criminals carry out money laundering. The system of financial institutions in
general and banks in particular are often chosen as the means of money laundering not only
because they provide diverse financial and monetary services (checks, money orders, money
orders...) and their ability to transact with very large amounts of money, but also because once
"poor money" is put into the banking system, it immediately becomes "clean money", from which
payment orders can be made in large quantities anywhere,
which often leaves no doubt as to their legitimacy. Money transfers between banks may not be
subject to suspicious transaction reporting for money laundering, making it easier for bribed bank
employees to conceal large illegal transfers between accounts. Swiss banks are considered a haven
for money launderers because of their high quality of service and reputation for client
confidentiality.
Money laundering methods through banks are shown in the following cases:
(i) Money sources are laundered and used within the country. This is the process of money
laundering in which illegal money is collected, laundered and reinvested through the financial
system of a country.
- the place where the crime originated.
(ii) “Dirty” money originates domestically, then is transferred abroad to be laundered in
other financial systems and finally recirculated in the domestic market.
(iii) “Dirty” money is generated abroad, laundered there or in another country and finally
invested in developing countries.
(iv) Money laundered and withdrawn from the financial system of a developing country for use
elsewhere, without being reinvested in that country.
The behaviors, methods and tricks of money laundering are very diverse, closely linked to
loopholes in the legal system of each country, especially criminal law, financial law, banking law...
From the practice of preventing and combating money laundering in many countries, the methods
and tricks of money laundering crimes through banks can be described as follows:
- Criminals use illegal money to deposit in savings funds or buy bonds and term notes.

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 This savings mechanism makes the money lie still for a period of time suitable to the
regulations of each country. It can be 1 year, 3 years, 5 years... After that time, the depositor
can withdraw the entire principal and interest or withdraw a part, then they have our
documents to show the legal origin of the credit organization. During the period of depositing
savings, criminals can use savings, bonds, and promissory notes to mortgage to commercial
banks to borrow a certain amount of money. The bank loan is legally withdrawn, then can be
paid, or not paid because there is a mortgaged asset to ensure payment.
-Laundering money through bank loans with guarantees. To carry out this activity, the
money launderer will deposit money into a company established in a country where the
account opening procedure is very easy, not requiring much information from the customer.
Then, to borrow money from the bank to buy real estate or goods, the money launderer goes
to the bank to borrow money from the bank. This loan is guaranteed by a company
headquartered abroad that the money launderer has entrusted. There are two cases that can
happen. One is, the money launderer may not repay the loan, which of course happens when
the foreign company that is supposed to guarantee will have to pay the debt to the borrower.
Then, unlike other normal secured transactions, the guarantor company does not ask the
guaranteed party to pay it back because they are accomplices. Second, the borrower will
repay the loan early with the foreign company's money and present to the bank that he has
the ability to repay the loan and wants to terminate the loan contract early.
- Money laundering through the "underground" banking system: In some countries, the
banking system is inefficient, expensive but bureaucratic. Therefore, in the foreign
community in these countries, there exists an informal banking system called "underground"
banking. This underground banking system operates and circulates finances like official banks
but with cheaper service costs and more secrecy than legal banks. Underground banks have
representatives in many different countries to perform money transfer services from one
country to another or from one city to another within the same country. The operation of this
bank is mainly based on trust between the bank and the customer, so the paperwork is
simple. Criminals take advantage of the principle of secrecy of these banks to deposit money
and request to receive it back in another city. The addresses that need to receive laundered
money are usually countries that are eager to invest financially but pay little attention to the
origin of the money, payment through banks is not yet a mandatory and common
requirement, the legal system on preventing and combating money laundering is not strict...
2.2. Money laundering through direct cash transactions
Domestic or cross-border cash transactions are the traditional and main method of
money laundering for criminals. Therefore, many countries in the world have strictly
implemented border control measures to find people carrying cash without proving the origin
of the money. In 1999, a money exchange counter in Paris discovered the suspicious behavior
of a Frenchman who in a short time exchanged 1.7 million French francs to German marks.
This money exchange behavior was closely monitored by the police. Investigation results
showed that the suspect had relations with a drug trafficking criminal group in Spain,
Germany, France, and was looking to exchange money to German marks for consumption.
This organization also continuously bought luxury cars in France to transfer to Spain for about
200,000 French francs, then transported them by road to Spain for resale. What caught the
attention of the police was the shady behavior of a person who claimed to be the owner of a
small business in a city, in a period of no more than 10 months, this person used cash to
continuously buy 10 cars for export (while the French do not have the habit of paying in cash
when buying cars. Countries where cash can be easily converted into foreign currency, or used
as a means of payment, are mainly "paradise" for criminals to commit money laundering. The
amount of money after being laundered is transferred to a developing country but is not for
investment but is circulated and consumed everywhere.
Under increasing pressure from police forces around the world, criminals have switched
from bank transfers to direct cash transfers across borders. One example is

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A typical example is a Spanish employee who was preparing to leave Roissy International Airport,
France for South America. He was discovered to have hidden 800 4cm thick banknotes in his
shoes, worth a total of 439,000 Euros. According to Bobigny police, the money was related to a
money laundering network, derived from cocaine trafficking in Bobigny, France, and withdrawn
from a bank account opened in France.
2.3. Money laundering through buying shares and securities
Money laundering through stocks is very easy because of the nature of stocks, everyone has
the right to buy and sell stocks and reinvest while stock prices fluctuate frequently. Therefore, it
is very difficult to control the assets of stock players. Sometimes, criminals even buy fake stocks
issued by shell companies without paying attention to the performance of the business.
2.4. Money laundering by gambling, participating in games with prizes
The gaming sector is the first sector that criminals in any country think of to commit. For
example, in France, horse racing betting is very popular. Criminals in the South of France,
together with betting organizations, organized a system to centralize all winning tickets. Through
this system, they bought winning tickets at a higher price. The difference could be enjoyed by the
winner or the winning organization. Similarly, criminals can buy lottery tickets at a higher price
from lottery buyers or lottery agents.
Casinos are considered the ideal “money laundering machines” for criminals, because the
origin of the money used for gambling is not checked, while the winnings from gambling in many
countries are considered legal money. If they win, the prize money will be paid into another legal
account. Gambling is just an external form, because criminals have colluded with casino owners
to confirm the winnings according to an agreed sharing ratio (this ratio can be up to 30%, or even
half of the total value of the money to be laundered).
2.5. Money laundering through investment activities
Illegal money is often invested in the fields of restaurants, casinos, dance clubs, eco-tourism
areas... and even ghost companies. Then they falsely report profits through their fake invoices,
from which "poor money" will naturally become legal money earned through labor. For example,
a common trick of foreign companies registered in the three island nations of Virgin Islands,
Cayman Islands and Samoa in China is "fake losses, real profits". Because joint ventures or foreign
companies investing in China enjoy many preferential policies, especially tax exemptions,
business production conditions, import of raw materials and administrative procedures,
registration are all simplified. A foreign investor can register his business through "representative
companies" in China.
business. The company registration policy of these three island countries is very easy. Therefore,
the money that criminals (corruption, smuggling, drugs...) in other countries smuggle out of the
country is done by establishing many companies in these three island countries, many of which
are "ghost companies" that do not produce or do business. The purpose of the above ghost
companies is to find a way to bring money into China to do business to make profit, doing illegal
business in China.
2.6. Money laundering through real estate transactions
In the field of real estate trading, there are many different tricks that money launderers take
advantage of. For example, in Vietnam, due to the tradition of parents taking care of, building
assets and then transferring them to their children in the form of giving them assets. Taking
advantage of this characteristic, money launderers borrow the names of their parents (and in
some cases, even borrow the names of their siblings) to actually buy real estate, then make a
contract to give that real estate to themselves. In the field of real estate trading in France, the
simplest technique is to negotiate a much higher price than the price stated in the real estate sale
contract. The difference between these two prices is beneficial to both the seller when paying
taxes and the money launderer. Then the real estate buyer continues to invest, renovate the real
estate and then sell it. In this case, it is very possible that the money launderer does not have to
pay money laundering costs, but also benefits. First, at the step of buying a house, when paying
the difference in

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 The first is the commission for the seller, a part of the money has been already received.
Second, the house repair and renovation activities also help them launder a part of the next
illegal money, at the same time increasing the value of the real estate through this
investment and repair activity. Third, when selling the house, they will receive a legal
deposit because the house sale procedure will go through the public. The house sale
contract established by the public will be considered a certificate of legal origin of the
money.
2.7. Money laundering through auction activities
Auctioning assets is one of the activities that easily facilitate money laundering
(especially auctioning works of art because it is very difficult to determine the value of these
works. Therefore, they can be inflated up to millions of US dollars. The buyer and the
auctioneer are accomplices. There are also cases where the buyer and seller are not
accomplices, but the auctioneer colludes with the buyer and the auctioneer to inflate the
value of the contract compared to the actual value of the property. The buyer will pay the
exact amount of money, the remaining amount is the amount that the auctioneer needs to
legalize into clean money.
2.8. Online money transfer
Along with the integration trend, the world is becoming more and more "flat",
information technology is becoming more and more popular and sophisticated. Therefore,
the appearance of cybercrime is inevitable. Currently, cybercriminals have many tricks to
launder money or spread "loot" on the Internet. FATF said that online payment services,
such as PayPal (USA) or Neteller (UK) are really useful for those who want to buy and sell
over the Internet without revealing financial information. Buying and selling transactions
over the Internet system allow customers to trade anonymously without leaving traces like
on paper.
2.9. Money laundering through insurance activities
Criminals use their money to buy life insurance from insurance companies. This amount
of money is kept in the insurance company's account for a certain period of time. Then the
criminals will request to withdraw the money before the due date, or use the value of the
insurance contract to guarantee payment for a certain transaction need such as buying real
estate, or guaranteeing bank loans. That is just the normal route of the withdrawal process.
In fact, criminals also change the process to become much more complicated, for example:
criminals do not directly withdraw the insurance money, but designate another person to
withdraw the money, or some insurance companies even allow their customers to deposit
anonymously, without having to declare the name of the beneficiary of the money. This is a
loophole that criminals take advantage of to hide the origin of the money and is a money
laundering method that can deposit large amounts of cash.
2.10. Money laundering through the purchase of precious metals
With the characteristics of being compact, lightweight, valuable assets, stable prices and
being able to be bought and sold easily anywhere, anytime in the world, precious metals are
used by criminals as a means of
promote money laundering for themselves. This method is especially popular in countries
and regions with customs and traditions of accumulating and exchanging gold, diamonds...
2.11. Money laundering by using fake invoices, documents or real invoices but with
high pricesmore than the real value of the property
The main method of criminals is to set up many companies in many different cities and
countries as a front for money laundering, signing fake commercial contracts, issuing fake
invoices, making it difficult for investigations. It is not easy for the investigating agencies to
verify whether an invoice is real or fake when the company providing the service is located in
one country and the company paying for the service is located in another country. These
companies only operate for a short time, with a modest scale of operation to attract less
attention from tax authorities or police. After a company is at risk of being exposed and
declares dissolution, a new company is immediately established as a replacement front.
Unlike the method of money laundering by understating the value of money in asset
purchase contracts to evade taxes, a fairly common method of money laundering is to
overvalue goods transactions.

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