November 24 - Several Vancouver residents have been charged and millions of dollars seized after a three-year investigation into an underground banking system that allegedly cleaned the illicit cash of some of Canada’s largest criminal organizations. Mike Tucker, of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team, said the accused — four from Vancouver and three from Calgary — are part of a family that ran “pseudo banks in Vancouver and in Ontario.” “It appears that they were pretty unique in offering this type of service so they ended up having a lot of different affiliations with major drug trafficking groups in Vancouver and in Ontario,” Tucker told Postmedia. He would not identify any specific drug gangs, nor the address of the underground bank’s Vancouver location.

November 22 - One of Canada’s largest banks is urging Canadians to stay on guard against fraudsters and cyber criminals following the results of a new survey. Nearly seven in ten Canadians (68%) have been the target of or fallen for different financial fraud schemes that were perpetrated by email, phone, text, credit card, or social media, according to a recent Scotiabank Fraud Awareness poll. With that in mind, Scotiabank has updated its Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub to make it easier for people to recognize and defend themselves against online fraud.

November 16 - Two New York men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering for using New York-area pharmacies to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and then laundering the criminal proceeds. Arkadiy Khaimov, 39, of Forest Hills, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Peter Khaim, 42, also of Forest Hills, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on Nov. 3.

October 08 - The Financial Action Task Force said it has not changed the way it monitors digital assets after Al Jazeera reported the intergovernmental organization for tacking money laundering and financing of terrorism is getting ready to "conduct annual checks to ensure countries are enforcing anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules on crypto providers." The FATF declined to comment on "speculation in media reports," but it told CoinDesk that it has not changed the "manner or frequency of its assessments" of virtual assets defined under Recommendation R.15. All countries must prioritize the swift and effective implementation of crypto regulations to make sure they aren't misused by criminals, it said.