Combating Illicit Financial Transactions : Categorisation and Risk Assessment of Non-Traditional Payment Methods

Abstract: This thesis presents a framework for categorisation and risk assessment of non-traditional payment methods used for illicit purchases. The non-profit organisation Financial Coalition is working to prevent such transactions for child abusive material, and has expressed a desire to involve non- traditional payment methods in its operations. In order to do this, it has been necessary to understand the available options on this market, and what alternatives to include. An investigation of desirable properties for commercial and illicit use of payment methods was done using a qualitative approach, involving primarily interviews and online content reviewing. The findings and the framework have successfully been validated during a workshop with knowledgeable actors, as well as during a seminar presentation at the Riksdag of Sweden. On a mainly commercial basis, observations have been made that authentication and privacy in payments will be important factors henceforth. There is also a never-before-seen pace of new payment solutions trying to address this. When aligning this commercial perspective with an illicit one, four principal properties emerge that together describe the most essential aspects of payments in criminal environments: anonymity, regionality, transaction speed, and regulatory possibilities. These principal properties are segmented and combined into a framework for categorisation and risk assessment by assigning risk values to each segment. The risk assessment indicates that payment schemes offering possibilities to anonymity, a large geographical reach, fast transactions, and are based on virtual currencies, are associated with the highest risk in terms of complicating law enforcement work. It is concluded that payment service providers receiving high risk values should be approached by organisation like the Financial Coalition and thus included in the knowledge sharing that takes place. Some schemes however operate without central control functions, which complicates an inclusion. Targeting supporting functions or developing communities could thus be suitable means for such cases instead. If the suggested framework is accepted as a working tool for organisations like the Financial Coalition, more research should be put into quantifying the risk values more thoroughly.