What is Cuckoo Smurfing and how can it be detected?

Cuckoo Smurfing has recently been highlighted by AUSTRAC as a method of money laundering used by criminals to disguise their movements of funds across borders. By disguising their international funds transfers, criminals can further enable their criminal activities and profit from such activities.

Cuckoo Smurfing is a method of money laundering which relies on the exploitation of bank accounts of customers expecting to receive legitimate funds due to a cross-border payment. In most instances the customers are unaware that the funds received are derived from criminal activities. Cuckoo Smurfing arises where a professional money laundering syndicate works with a corrupt remitter based overseas who: