The Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing, has warned that countries are increasingly using advanced financial tools including cryptocurrency mixers, decentralised finance platforms and shell companies to bypass international sanctions and fund weapons programmes.In its latest report, FATF said North Korea based state actors have relied on cyberattacks and crypto theft to secretly finance banned weapons. North Korean hackers alone are estimated to have stolen nearly 1.5 billion dollars in digital assets over recent years to support their nuclear programme.
The report also spotlighted Iran’s use of oil smuggling, proxy networks and trade fraud to evade sanctions.
India was cited for intercepting a missile bound shipment to Pakistan that had been disguised as industrial dryers, highlighting the growing trend of fake firms being used to skirt regulatory controls.FATF has called for stronger enforcement, improved know your customer systems and better international coordination to tackle these increasingly complex threats to global peace and financial security.
