In today's high-tech era, criminals often leave digital footprints that aid law
enforcement and financial regulators in investigations. Ironically, it's the
offline, low-tech crimes that confound authorities the most. This is evident
in the recent surge in illicit use of the Hawala system, as criminal and terror
groups increasingly take advantage of this centuries-old money transfer
system to evade authorities. Despite their best efforts, law enforcement
agencies struggle to combat the illicit movement of funds via the Hawala
system, due to its decentralized, unregulated, and low-tech nature.
Transactions are typically recorded in paper notebooks with cryptic codes
and token numbers denoting transactions between anonymized parties,
offering investigators little to work with. However, there is a global push for
urgent action against Hawala activity in both developed and undeveloped
countries, especially in Europe, where waves of immigration have changed
local demographics. Law enforcement is contending with a surge in money
laundering and terror funding via Hawala networks, as well as the popularity
of the Hawala system amongst criminal and terrorist groups.
This has prompted law enforcement to seek new technologies, including AI-
driven decision intelligence platforms, to extract meaningful insights from
the low-tech data sources associated with the Hawala system.
The Urgent Need for Better
Investigative Tools for Hawala
1
Executive
Summary
6
About
NEXYTE
2
The Hawala
Problem
4
How Decision
Intelligence
Can Help
5
Key Decision
Intelligence
Capabilities
3
What is
Hawala?
3