Police launch crackdown on money laundering in Cambridgeshire

A staggering £12 billion of cash is laundered in the UK every year – and Cambridgeshire is not immune. The Home Office are working in conjunction with partners across Government and police forces to launch Operation Plutus, a national campaign to raise awareness and disrupt money laundering activity.

Op Plutus aims to make it harder for criminals to launder cash in and through the UK and deter the use of criminal cash.

Detective Inspector Tom Rowe, from the digital cyber directorate’s investigation branch, is heading up activity. He said: “Money laundering is the process of changing/filtering large sums of money obtained through organised criminal activity to make it appear like it came from a legitimate source. It is already a part of drug supply, organised immigration offences and burglaries and, as such, its investigation can sit amongst these cases.

“We tackle money laundering and other fraud crimes all year round, of course, but over the next two weeks, the team and I will be working hard to raise awareness of money laundering and help people spot the signs in a bid to make life harder for criminals – whether through preventative and protective activity or pursuing criminals themselves.

“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. Aside from hurting the hard-working British taxpayer, it also helps sustain wider criminal activity, which see people exploited and abused. With awareness and focus, we can make Cambridgeshire a difficult place to commit this offence.

“Our activity will include enforcement activity involving local officers, preventative advice to schools and colleges and wider public awareness.”

Cambridgeshire police are urging individuals and businesses across Cambridgeshire to be vigilant and have compiled a list of “signs” to look out for. These include:

Unusual transactions or financial activity, which seem out of character

Large cash deposits or bank balances with little or seemingly little knowledge of where the funds came from

Cashier’s checks or money orders purchased with large sums of cash

Evasiveness or defensiveness around financial information or details when asked

Discrepancies in information, such as multiple or unverified identification documents

Complicated financial transactions to confuse or throw investigators off the scent by hiding the source of the funds

Large sums of investment with no explanation for the funding

For more information on fraud, including money laundering, and where to report it, visit: https://bit.ly/3rEOo9R