The alert shows that known fentanyl traffickers are frequently sending money to digital gambling sites and receiving funds in return from associated payment processors in Canada, Malta, and the UK.

Identifying money laundering activities

Fintrac identifies cash linked to money laundering and terrorism by sifting through millions of pieces of data annually from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos, and others.

The agency then discloses the resulting intelligence to its partners, such as Canada’s spy agency, the RCMP, and other police services.

When preparing the operational alert, Fintrac analysed a sample of 5.000 suspicious transaction reports related to fentanyl and synthetic opioids filed between 2020 and 2023 within Canada.

Fintrac mentions one case where an individual received a few hundred high-value email money transfers from a payment processor closely aligned with online gambling. Such processors send email money transfers on behalf of individuals who deposit and withdraw funds from online casinos. The transactions appear as an e-transfer from the processor rather than as a transfer from the online gambling platform, making them seem more legitimate to banks or other financial institutions.

The alert says the illegal supply of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in North America has been driven by the growing involvement of organised crime groups known to use shady financial services in the darker corners of the internet.

Primary distribution hubs

The intelligence agency says that these fraudulent transactions involved wire transfers to individuals in high-risk jurisdictions including China, India, and Eastern Europe. Wire transfers to these jurisdictions were often routed through intermediary jurisdictions like Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong to avoid detection.

In more recent years, trafficking networks have increased the production of drugs as well as their distribution both domestically and internationally from North America, including Canada, the US, and Mexico.

POS and ATM transactions indicate that opioids are primarily moving inland from distribution hubs in Vancouver. From Vancouver, supplies are distributed further.