Placement (Money Laundering)

Placement is the most dangerous stage for a money launderer because it involves physically moving large amounts of illicit cash into the financial system — through bank deposits, currency exchanges, casinos, or cash-intensive businesses. Detection risk is highest at this point because banks and other institutions must file reports on large or suspicious cash transactions.

Common placement techniques include depositing cash in amounts just below reporting thresholds (structuring/smurfing), commingling criminal proceeds with revenues from a cash-intensive legitimate business, or purchasing high-value assets such as luxury goods, art, or real estate.

For consumers, placement-stage fraud often shows up as a money mule recruitment: the criminal needs your account to receive and then quickly forward cash or electronic funds, avoiding the reporting scrutiny that would attach to their own accounts.