Tax fraud: with more than 200,000 suspicious transaction reports, Tracfin beats its record hands down

Tracfin, the Bercy agency responsible for receiving and processing suspicious transaction reports, primarily related to money laundering, fraud, and more rarely terrorist financing, published its annual report for the 2024 financial year on Friday, June 13. For the first time, the 200,000 reporting mark was reached last year (215,410, an increase of 13.2%). Among the private and public structures subject to this reporting obligation in the event of suspicion, the financial sector—particularly banks—naturally comes first, with 93.1% of referrals to Tracfin. For the first time, a sign of the times, alerts targeting cryptocurrencies were also reported.

The non-financial sector has woken up a bit, with a 25.7% increase in alerts, but its share of the total remains marginal (6.9%). The perennial last-place group are players' agents, primarily footballers, with a new zero score. Yet they have been subject to suspicious activity reporting since 2010. Tracfin is surprised, even annoyed, by this, "deploring a lack of reporting in a sector clearly exposed to fraud." And it hammers the point home about the football business, with its "multiple risks, such as tax fraud, corruption, human trafficking, and competition manipulation." In 2029, European clubs will also be subject to suspicious activity reporting, due to "the prevalence of cross-border transactions and sometimes opaque ownership structures."

At the bottom of the ranking, we also find the 75,000 lawyers, with fifteen small referrals to Tracfin, but we know the profession is deeply reluctant to betray its clients' secrets. In the category that can do better, the real estate sector, although classified as "high overall risk in terms of money laundering" . Tracfin estimates that the 514 declarations made last year "remain insufficient compared to the 750,000 real estate transactions in 2024." Even the casino and online gaming club sector does better (4,330). That's saying something...