Financial watchdog: 112 billion tenge moved through money-mule networks in Kazakhstan

According to Kazakhstan's Financial Monitoring Agency, 112 billion tenge flowed through networks of 'droppers' — people who lend their bank cards and accounts to move other people's money. The outcome for hundreds of participants was criminal charges, even though many saw it as an easy way to make extra cash.

For business, it's a reason to look at your own payment processes from a different angle: if an employee or contractor offers to route a payment through 'their own card' or an unusual account, treat it as a red flag. It's worth setting a firm rule that all settlements with partners and payroll go only to named corporate accounts specified in the contract, with no 'by arrangement' exceptions.

Pass-through schemes like this give themselves away in the data: the amounts and payment purposes don't match the company's real operations. Automatic checks in 1Cifer catch exactly such atypical payments — a new recipient, an unusual amount — and raise them to the owner before a bank or the financial monitoring agency does.