Swedish gang criminals’ secret groups are now looking for “goalkeepers” from Finland – This is what it’s all about –

Swedish gang criminals diligently use encrypted Telegram and Signal groups, where they look for perpetrators of both money laundering and contract killings. Illustration image. AOP

“A Finnish goalkeeper is needed.”

“There would be a Finnish bank here, OP.”

“Finnish goalkeepers available.”

These messages are from secret Telegram groups used by Swedish gang criminals. Similar messages are numerous and have been for months. Iltalehti previously wrote about the same groups, which also offer murder gigs.

The aforementioned messages are about money laundering, as drug money from criminal gangs is often transported through many bank accounts. Swedish bank accounts are constantly being sought, but there are also several requests for Finnish bank accounts. Finnish Nordea and OP accounts are most sought after and offered – these two are clearly the largest banks in Finland.

Of the messages regarding Finnish bank accounts seen by Iltalehti, the oldest are from April this year, the most recent from September.

Which goalkeeper?

The word “goalkeeper” refers to a person who, as the name suggests, can ward off the suspicions of the authorities while drug money and other funds obtained from criminal activities are transferred through his bank account. The Finnish police use the word mule for the same task.

People with no criminal record who have no debts in foreclosure are often sought as a goalkeeper – that is, a person whose bank information is basically no reason to suspect. Those who undertake the task are offered either a single reward or a percentage of the sums passing through the account.

The scope of the task may vary. It can be a single money transfer as a mobile payment or, for example, the fact that a person nominally becomes the CEO of a company through whose accounts millions of kroner are laundered.

“Risk-free source of income”

In Sweden, gangs even use children as goalkeepers, whose money is laundered through their bank accounts or mobile payment applications.

Criminals market the job of goalie in message threads as a risk-free way to earn large sums of money. However, acting as a goalkeeper is participating in money laundering, which can result in a prison sentence.

In both Finland and Sweden, money laundering can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison. You can get a six-year sentence for aggravated money laundering.

For a bank loan trip to Finland

Gang chats also offer gigs where the intention is to travel to Finland and get a Finnish bank loan.

– You travel from Stockholm and stay in Finland for one day. You take out a loan from Finland. Only those in Finland are obliged to repay the loan, not in Sweden, the message describes the task.

The announcement promises a reward of 250,000 kroner, i.e. around 22,000 euros. The participants in the discussion pondered whether the Finns and Swedes have cooperation with the authorities that would reveal the situation. Finns or others familiar with Finland comment that taking out a loan in Finland is not quite that simple.

KRP commented

Iltalehti asked the Finnish Central Criminal Police, KRP, if they are aware of the matter and if the police are investigating such cases.

– In Finland, we are aware of the use of so-called mules in disguising the origin of funds. In the dark web and closed discussion forums, bank accounts are asked for and offered to transfer criminal funds for a fee, says KRP’s crime commissioner Kristian Meismaa For Iltalehti.

He does not comment on money laundering attempts by Swedish gangs using Finnish bank accounts.

– There have been criminal cases related to so-called mule accounts under investigation in Finland. We do not take a position on the referred case, whether there is an investigation in Finland related to it.

Meismaa says that the increase in cybercrime has also increased the risk of money laundering, when funds obtained through crimes are transferred further through various fishing and bank scams. He reminds that money laundering is problematic in many ways:

– Among other things, money laundering makes it possible to commit new crimes, creates a breeding ground for organized and other serious crime such as drug trafficking, and can affect the safety of society, for example by increasing violence, Meismaa lists.

Minors are attracted

Iltalehti also asked for a comment from OP Group, which is Finland’s largest bank. It also does not directly comment on Iltalehti’s information about Swedish gangs’ attempts to gain access to Finnish bank accounts.

– Criminals lure ordinary citizens, and increasingly also minors, into money mules by promising easy money. However, it is important to emphasize that acting as a money mule for a criminal organization is illegal and can lead to prosecution for money laundering, says OP Group’s fraud expert Maija Ahonen.

Ahonen says that OP combats money laundering with several different measures to ensure that its services are not used for criminal activities.

– The measures include activities related to getting to know the customer, monitoring account transactions and detecting anomalies, says Ahonen.