FinCEN Finds Increased Cryptocurrency Involvement in Human Trafficking

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released an analysis that reports an alleged increase in the use of cryptocurrency in human trafficking cases. According to FinCEN, reports of cryptocurrency linked to these purposes grew from 336 in 2020 to 1,975 in 2021, an increase of almost 500%.

FinCEN Alerts of Crypto Usage Linked to Human Trafficking

A recent financial trend analysis issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has alerted about the growth in the alleged usage of cryptocurrency linked to cases of online human trafficking. According to FinCEN, the number of reports involving this kind of crime and cryptocurrency went from 336 in 2020 to 1,975 in 2021, increasing by almost 500%.
Furthermore, the percentage of these crimes with crypto involvement also grew, going from 6% of all of these reports in 2020 to 29% of all the financial reports in 2021. 95% of the reports filed included the exchange of crypto for explicit material or the exchange of the proceedings of the sale of this material for fiat currency.
The volume in fiat currency of these crimes reached $278 million in 2021 after registering $133 million in 2020. FinCEN also reported that bitcoin was the primary cryptocurrency referenced in 2,157 out of 2,311 reports of suspicions of human trafficking instances; however, it doesn’t rule out the possibility of other cryptocurrencies being used for these purposes.

The investigation of the institution also allowed the identification of four different typologies related to these crimes, including the use of darknet markets for the acquisition of explicit material, the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchanges, the use of cryptocurrency mixers (which are being targeted by the institution under national security concerns), and cryptocurrency kiosks.
FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki remarked on the relevance of these reports, which contribute to solving these cases by helping law enforcement protect those in need. He stated:

Financial institutions’ vigilance and timely reporting is critical to providing law enforcement agencies with the information needed to investigate potential cases of human trafficking, sexual crimes against children, and related crimes.

What do you think about FinCEN’s report on the alleged link between cryptocurrency and human trafficking crimes? Tell us in the comments section below.