AUSTRAC Cancels 45 Remittance and Crypto Firms Over Money Laundering Concerns
AUSTRAC, Australia's financial crime regulator, has removed 45 remittance and virtual asset service providers from its registers over the past year. These businesses were either dormant or inactive, insolvent, lacked the capacity to trade, held the wrong registration, failed to report material changes, or posed significant money laundering or terrorism financing risk.
The cancellations target GetCoins, which AUSTRAC acted against with the National Anti-Scam Centre after customer complaints. The regulator requested information on the firm's operations and found it allegedly exploited by organised cryptocurrency investment scams.
AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said cancelling GetCoins' registration 'helped to disrupt organised investment scam activity'. He added that businesses with cancelled registrations can no longer operate, and some individuals behind them were referred to law enforcement in Australia and overseas.