The Dark Web and Digital Currencies: A Potent Money Laundering and Terrorism Opportunity
Geetha A Rubasundram
Geetha A Rubasundram, School of Accounting & Finance, Asia Pacific University, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 08 February 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 14 February 2019 | Manuscript Published on 19 February 2019 | PP: 476-482 | Volume-7 Issue-5S January 2019 | Retrieval Number: ES2189017519/19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Money Laundering and terrorism funding has been a problem for years, with regulators and investigators facing difficulties in tracing illicit funds due to legislation and privacy issues. Money laundering using the traditional banking network, or through close relationship based transfers such as the “hawala” require complex investigations. The advent of technology-based money such as digital currencies and advancement of other financial technology, and the use of it under untraceable sites (Dark Web), only complicates the whole issue. The typical biased and wrong perception is that technology based crime can only be perpetrated by individuals who are highly skilled. Further consideration should be taken into account differentiating between the perpetrator, victim and the mechanism used, such as Crimeware-as-a-Service. This case study based research analyses the challenges faced by investigators when investigating crimesvia technology driven platforms, which includes the assessment of the techniques and legal ramifications to investigate and identify the perpetrators. The results reflect key points that need to be taken into account especially when the investigation involves cross-country jurisdictions as well as various legal frameworks.
Keywords: Dark Web, Deep Web, Money Laundering, Terrorism, Crimeware-as-a-Service, Network Investigative Technique (NIT).
Scope of the Article: Semantic Web