Would Money Laundering in the Translation Industry be possible? Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
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Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 20:31
Spanish to English
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When people bring up the fact that some companies earn millions or billions, I've always thought that translation could be a perfect field for money laundering.
Fake or subsidiary companies would pay the company .12 to. 30 a word for a project (some random document, it doesn't matter, the translation is not important). Company would either just machine translate or pay someone cheap (just to make things look real). Agency would also do legitimate translation work just to maintain t... See more When people bring up the fact that some companies earn millions or billions, I've always thought that translation could be a perfect field for money laundering.
Fake or subsidiary companies would pay the company .12 to. 30 a word for a project (some random document, it doesn't matter, the translation is not important). Company would either just machine translate or pay someone cheap (just to make things look real). Agency would also do legitimate translation work just to maintain the appearance of legitimacy.
Example: I want to launder 10,000. XXXXXTranslations would set up an LLC called "Vandalay Industries". Vandalay Industries would pay XXXXXTranslations 20,000 for a project. The translation company would "earn" 10,000 in income on the books and pocket the other, now laundered 10,000 paid to it from the fake LLC.
[Edited at 2023-01-10 17:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:31
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| We get offers | Jan 10, 2023 |
We do get regular offers to pay us in advance for translation jobs.
We always report them to everyone else. The general consensus seems to be that only a fool would accept to be paid in advance for work not done.
But still the scammers try and no doubt some people fall for the trick.
I wonder what happens to them after that?
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 03:31
Member
English to Turkish
Tom in London wrote:
We do get regular offers to pay us in advance for translation jobs.
We always report them to everyone else. The general consensus seems to be that only a fool would accept to be paid in advance for work not done.
But still the scammers try and no doubt some people fall for the trick.
I wonder what happens to them after that?
I don't get those scammer emails that people here love to post and expose. I get the feeling that scammers simply don't give a shit about my language as they deem it worthless, which upsets me a great deal...
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 20:31
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Money Laundering vs Scammers | Jan 10, 2023 |
Those would be scammers. Money laundering would not necessarily involve scamming a translator.
Tom in London wrote:
We do get regular offers to pay us in advance for translation jobs.
We always report them to everyone else. The general consensus seems to be that only a fool would accept to be paid in advance for work not done.
But still the scammers try and no doubt some people fall for the trick.
I wonder what happens to them after that?
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| Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Empty post |
I thought money laundering was about things like car washes that take payment in cash. Nobody pays for translations in cash…
Meanwhile I’ve just been asked to prove I am me by my pension provider before I can pay in contributions from a new bank account. Now that’s clearly where the money laundering is. All those people with the same unusual name as me living at my address and paying billions in drug money into my pension.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 20:31
German to English
| Laundering is certainly possible, but ... | Jan 10, 2023 |
... the mechanics would be hardly worth the effort considering the potentially small amounts.
Criminal-scale money laundering (e.g., drug money) would involve large sums, not just a few thousand dollars at a time. A translation agency serving as a laundromat would need to file taxes, and a sudden influx of hundreds of thousands in revenue without corresponding expenses would possibly trigger an audit.
If I were going to go into the money washing business in the United S... See more ... the mechanics would be hardly worth the effort considering the potentially small amounts.
Criminal-scale money laundering (e.g., drug money) would involve large sums, not just a few thousand dollars at a time. A translation agency serving as a laundromat would need to file taxes, and a sudden influx of hundreds of thousands in revenue without corresponding expenses would possibly trigger an audit.
If I were going to go into the money washing business in the United States, I would start a church (apparently very easy in the US, given the vast number of denominations here) with a tax-free foundation. Churches basically operate unaudited without paying taxes which is why the pastors of megachurches live like King Farouk. A "donor" could give the foundation a few million, all of which would be tax-deductible, but at least half of which would be refunded to the donor in cash.
To be honest I would be surprised if this weren't already commonplace. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Not necessary | Jan 10, 2023 |
We have cash businesses like coffee shops for washing cash, porn or other digital content for numerous small online purchases, and auctions and now NFTs for large single bank/card transactions.
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