AGA Issues Updated AML Compliance Guidelines for the Gaming Industry

Richard Marley
July 29, 2022
3 minutes read
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American Gaming Association (AGA) launches the third edition of the Best Practices of AML Compliance resource on Thursday

The American Gaming Association (AGA) released its third edition of AML Compliance Best Practices for the gaming industry on Thursday. The country’s top compliance experts reviewed and revised the document updated by the AGA, and reflected on the new laws, technologies and indicators that detect criminal activity.

The AGA’s Vice President of Government Relations, Alex Costello stated in the new release, “As the methods and sophistication of financial crimes evolve, the gaming industry continues to spearhead efforts to combat money laundering, An invaluable resource for our industry, this guide demonstrates gaming’s commitment to protecting the U.S. financial system from money laundering and other forms of illicit finance.”

The resource document “Best Practices For AML Compliance” for the gaming industry was last updated in 2019. AGA highlighted the key milestones and changes made since then.

Major changes are made to the Bank Secrecy Act by congress via the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.

FinCEN announced the federal exceptive relief for defined types of ID verification for the gaming industry. The sports betting and iGaming states legalized in additional sixteen states. About a dozen gaming jurisdictions agreed on the use of digital payments and types of cryptocurrency. New types of cybercrimes and fraudulent activity have surfaced.

These new changes are approved that provide the updated guidelines with expanded red flag indications, current compliance obligations, and the revised definitions of critical laws that are essential for the gaming firms to maintain their secure and safe AML status.

🚨 RELEASE: Today, the AGA published the 3rd edition of its Best Practices for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance resource to reflect new laws, technologies, and indicators of criminal activity.

Full details ➡️ https://t.co/0iQms591Cq pic.twitter.com/CUvYwEajDK

— American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) July 28, 2022

The AGA noticed that the casino gaming sector is identified as one of the leading industries in AML compliance. The gaming industry also achieved a comprehensive set of best practices for AML compliance in 2014, becoming the first industry to collectively establish the guidelines.

The sector also filed around 55,000 reports that suspected illicit activity to assist law enforcement in fighting money laundering activities. In addition to it, the AGA represents gaming on BSAAG (Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group) which is organised by FinCEN to collaborate with stakeholders in the financial industry.

In addition to the new resource, AGA also released a new resource for another area called the “Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in the Gaming Industry” which marks the first step of the authority in the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. This aims to support efforts in the gaming sector.

Disclaimer: No warranty is herein provided that the information contained in this document is accurate, up-to-date, and/or complete. In no circumstance(s), does such information constitute legal or any other advice. Any person who intends to use, rely, pass-on, or re-publish the information contained herein in any way is solely responsible for the same. We suggest to verify the information and/or obtain expert advice independently if required.

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Along with the rise in virtual and remote work, the number of cases of recruitment fraud is increasing at an unprecedented pace, urging authorities to take decisive action against criminals. Especially the pandemic resulted in huge mass layoffs giving setbacks to many sectors, ultimately creating massive inflation across the globe.

Now that the pandemic’s effects are diminishing, 97 million new job roles are to be expected by the next year, which will expedite fraudulent practices in the talent acquisition sector. Companies should be on their guard and implement a joint action plan to counter rising recruitment scams to secure their onboarding process.

How do Online Recruiting Scams Work?

The scammers fraudulently use an established company’s name, logo and even the details of real employees working in human resource departments to post jobs on recruiting websites or other social media platforms.

Keeping their credentials almost identical to the official company’s details, they send emails to job-seekers or post fake jobs. As soon as interested candidates apply, they conduct interviews to get sensitive information about candidates through telephonic or on-site interviews.

Through fake interviews and telephonic/email conversations, criminals ask for sensitive personal information, particularly social security, ID number and bank account details that job seekers often provide, paving the way for identity fraud.

In some cases, the scammers even seek money from the candidates in the name of background checks or certifications which directly cost them financial losses. In the US alone, users lost $86 million due to fake job opportunities posted on the internet.

Spotting the Signs of Recruitment Fraud

Recruitment fraud is the most unfortunate part of modern job hunting, where criminals prey upon candidates’ eagerness to find work for their living by creating scam job opportunities.

Here are a few signs that can help job seekers spot fraudulent elements during the recruitment process:

Legitimate hiring managers and employers never ask applicants to make any financial transaction in their personal or company account. Always say No to any person who is asking you to send money for any recruitment purpose.

Although the majority of companies ask the candidates to provide their personal information, this step usually comes when the recruitment process is near to complete. Any person asking for sensitive information like bank account details, social security number, date of birth or identity details could be a scammer who must be turned down.

The majority of companies recruit their employees using their official email accounts; rather than contacting the person through common numbers or email addresses. Any job letter/offer from any such account could be a fake one.

Legitimate recruiters always follow a comprehensive plan to get all the relevant information about the candidate. Any person offering you a job without following a standard hiring process raises suspicions.
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Due to the rising cases of recruitment scams across the globe resulting in financial losses of millions of dollars, law enforcement authorities of various jurisdictions are taking stringent action against criminals.

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2. UK Government – Raising Awareness of Employment Scams

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In their detailed guidance, the government has also guided job seekers to verify any email, phone call or message through certain checks, including verifying all details from the company’s websites.

It has also been instructed to the people not to proceed with any job application asking for money or any other personal details from you and not even open any spam link attached to the email.

How Shufti Pro can Help

With transforming technologies, the overall market is growing to produce more job opportunities for interested candidates. As per the surveys, this number is expected to grow in the coming years, increasing recruitment fraud risks.

Through talent acquisition scams, criminals not only defraud job seekers but also damage the reputation of established companies. So it is in their higher interest to find and implement a credible solution that efficiently mitigates the risks of stolen identity or credentials.

Shufti Pro’s identity verification services present an ideal option to counter this problem through its advanced identification features, including document authentication, facial recognition and address verification.

Want to learn more about identity verification services for eliminating recruitment fraud?

Connect with a KYC Expert

AGA Issues Updated AML Compliance Guidelines for the Gaming Industry

How Much Have Australians Lost to Scams?

How do Online Recruiting Scams Work?

Spotting the Signs of Recruitment Fraud

High Profile Criminal Cases of Recruitment Fraud

1. Europol Arrested a Gang Involved in €20 Million Employment Fraud

2. Hampton Gang Member Convicted for Pandemic Employment Fraud

Talent Acquisition Fraud and the Role of Law Enforcement Authorities

1. FBI Issued Instructions to Avoid Employment Scam

2. UK Government – Raising Awareness of Employment Scams

How Shufti Pro can Help

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