Th $107 billion prepaid credit-card business has attracted money-launderers, according to US customs officers; what’s more, the anonymous cards are exempt from border regulations that require you to disclose when you bring $10,000 in or out of the country:
Visually, the cards are barely distinguishable from credit or debit cards and the most versatile let users reload them remotely without having to reveal their identity, using cash, moneygrams, PayPal and other online payment services.
Some cards can process tens of thousands of dollars a month. Just load them up in Connecticut or Texas with, say, the proceeds of cocaine sales and collect the cash in local currency from an ATM in Medellin, Colombia or elsewhere in Latin America.
“I’m not so sure we have a sophisticated understanding of how to deal with this,” said Richard Stana, who oversaw a report on prepaid access for the General Accounting Office, the U.S. Congress’ research arm. “It’s just a whole new way of doing business.”
Prepaid cards attract money launderers
(via Consumerist)