Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) said chip conversions without or with minimal gambling remained the most reported suspicious activity in 2024, topping the list for a second consecutive year amid a surge in alerts filed by the city’s casinos.
The agency said 4,794 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) were submitted through its secure online platform last year, accounting for more than 91 percent of total filings. Of these, 3,837 originated from the gaming sector, while 957 came from banks and other institutions, underscoring the continued dominance of casinos in money-laundering risks.
After chip conversions (1,596 reports), irregular large cash withdrawals (1,119) and transactions linked to other crimes (843) ranked second and third, respectively. Other common activities included currency exchanges, unexplained cash deposits, use of ATMs and phone banking, third-party gambling, check and account transfers, online banking, and suspicious wire transfers.
The use of online banking showed the sharpest increase from 2023, highlighting what the GIF called a growing trend of illicit proceeds being moved through electronic channels. Overall, the top ten typologies all recorded year-on-year rises.
Alongside its monitoring work, the office said it was stepping up its technological defenses. In 2024, it launched procurement for a new “Anti-Money Laundering Analysis System” and deployed a cyber threat monitoring platform capable of real-time surveillance of internal networks.
Officials said the upgrades would speed up the identification of security threats and enhance data governance in combating money laundering and related crimes.
Following its integration into the Special Police Unit (SPU) last year, the GIF also worked to strengthen system connectivity and data exchange.
Cybersecurity efforts included penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and compliance checks with Macau’s Cybersecurity Law, as well as training to raise staff awareness of risks.
Authorities said the measures aimed to improve efficiency in financial intelligence analysis, reinforce network safeguards, and adapt to increasingly complex money-laundering techniques in the gaming hub.
