Money laundering funds and supports serious and organised crime.
It's a process of moving money or property through the economy in a way that hides its illegal origins or intended criminal purpose.
Money laundering is a crime under state, territory and Commonwealth laws.
Money laundering facilitators
Facilitators involved in money laundering include:
- money laundering organisations (MLOs), who specialise in moving money and property for criminal clients in return for a fee
- professional enablers, who have skills to help others launder money
- self-laundering organised crime groups, who launder money or property without the help of an MLO. These groups are good at laundering within Australia, but usually need the help of MLOs to move money and property internationally
- criminal clients, who are MLO customers. They depend on money laundering to hide wealth they obtain from committing crimes.
Operation Avarus
Operation Avarus is our anti-money laundering strategy, which guides the work of our investigation and intelligence teams. It outlines options to combat money laundering and disrupt the movement of illicit money and property.
Taskforce Avarus is the investigative arm of our anti-money laundering strategy. We work with other government agencies and partners to combat money laundering activities in Australia, including:
- AUSTRAC (Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre)
- Australian Border Force
- Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
Reporting money laundering
If you suspect someone is laundering large sums of money or very expensive property or that their money laundering is helping with another kind of crime that we investigate, such as drug importation, report it to us by filling out our