Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521709
16 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2024 FIAU warns practitioners to heed signs of human traffickers and victims FIAU's guidance note on human trafficking lists red f lags for banks, notaries, realtors and other subject- persons on how to spot suspicious transactions related to sex exploitation and human trafficking MALTA'S financial intelli- gence authority has issued guidance to banks and finan- cial practitioner and other subject-persons subject to money laundering rules, on how to identify red flags on the island's human trafficking vic- tims. The FIAU said attention had to be paid to customers' con- tact information when this is connected to advertising re- lated to escort services, model agencies, entertainment agen- cies or sexual services found on the internet, or even if con- nected to a known nightclub district – a veiled reference to Paceville, home to so many so- called 'gentleman's clubs'. It also called on practitioners to be suspicious when multi- ple customers opening multi- ple accounts are using a com- mon mobile number, address and employment reference; or when clients avoid face-to-face contact, show signs of fear, dis- tress, or depression, or if they are unable to recall certain de- tails, such a home address, by heart. The FIAU lists several case studies in which suspected transactions could be flagged on account of possible human trafficking taking place. A case in point a large amount of ticket purchases from dif- ferent airlines which might appear incommensurate with the type of business and the business undertaking, such as that of a foreign national resi- dent in Malta and registered as a sole shareholder and director of a construction company. The discrepancy between the purchasing of the airline tick- ets and the type of business and the business undertaking, would represent a red flag for financial services practition- ers. Statistics from the Council of Europe's GRETA (Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings) evaluation report on Malta show that the total number of formally identified victims of trafficking in human beings in 2017-2020 stood at 44, with la- bour exploitation representing 77% of identified cases. All adult victims were of for- eign origin, with Ukraine and the Philippines representing the primary countries of ori- gin (19 and 16 victims respec- tively) with additional victims originating from China (three) and Hungary (two). Migrant workers from Asia (and especially the Philip- pines) are at risk of trafficking and exploitation in the con- struction, cleaning, domestic work and fishing sectors, par- ticularly when these services are outsourced. Women work- ing in "gentlemen's clubs" and massage parlours experience heightened risk of sexual ex- ploitation. In Malta, reports of both do- mestic and foreign victims hav- ing been exploited by human traffickers have been noted by the US Department of State's annual report. "Sex traffickers exploit foreign national and Maltese women and children, and labour traffickers exploit foreign men and women. […] Fraudulent labour recruitment continues to occur; traffickers replace the originally signed contract with a less favoura- ble one upon arrival in Malta or force victims to perform a completely different job than what was agreed upon." It is common for traffickers to confiscate the passports of victims upon their arrival. When exploiting these victims, it is likely that there will be coordinated actions between traffickers, co-nationals of the victims, as well as Maltese cit- izens. The patterns of human traf- ficking in Malta are myriad. Profit can be garnered from labour and sex trafficking through abusive employment schemes, such as visa fraud and wage retention by mis- leading or defrauding victims. In such cases, recruiters might distort the conditions and nature of employment, confiscate, or destroy the em- ployee's identity documents and violate employment con- tracts. Even foreign nationals with legitimate temporary work or student visas can be the victims of exploitation. Debt bondage can also take place by charging the workers abusive fees, which take years to repay, and withholding their salary or paying a salary which is less than promised. The trafficker may claim that the fees cover the recruitment costs or the access to job opportunities. The FIAU says subject-per- sons should pay attention to situations where there may be multiple employees receiving the allocated salary in the same single account, and to funds which are instantly withdrawn upon receipt or transferred once more to another ac- count. These so-called 'funnel accounts' allow criminals or victims to deposit illicit funds at one location, which funds are then rapidly withdrawn by colluding parties from various other locations. This method provides crim- inals with instant access to money. The funds deposited are usually low value sums to avoid attracting attention and help in maintaining a degree of obscurity for human traffick- ers since transactions cannot be easily picked out and iden- tified. Traffickers usually accept payment via prepaid cards, credit cards, mobile payment applications and convertible virtual currency, but third-par- ty payment processors (TPPPs) allows them to mask the true origin of the payment by us- ing temporary email addresses and funding the account with a virtual credit card, even using VPNs to hide their IP address- es for online transactions. MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt