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Australian jihadists fund terrorism through prepaid gift cards: minister

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Australian jihadists are taking readily-available travel "gift cards," or stored value cards (SVCs), to the Middle East to fund terrorism, according to a government report released on Tuesday.

The report, released by Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), found 12 instances in which the prepaid cards were "highly likely" to have been used to fund terrorism.

Some SVCs can be loaded with up to 75,000 U.S. dollars at any one time, and are then used as a regular debit card both in Australia and overseas.

Australia's Minister for Justice Michael Keenan released the report on Tuesday, saying there were currently more than 10 million active prepaid SVCs in circulation in Australia, with a total value of around 1.5 billion Australian dollars (1.13 billion U.S. dollars).

"In Australia, foreign fighters have used SVCs to fund their terrorist activity before and after departure to the conflict zone, and have been used to facilitate money laundering and cyber enabled fraud," Keenan said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"Internationally, we have seen SVC's used to fund terrorist attacks, including the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015."

AUSTRAC CEO Paul Jevtovic said some SVCs were deemed to be a greater risk than others, with reloadable cards which allow ATM withdrawals the most common used in terror funding.

"SVCs that can be loaded, reloaded and redeemed in cash, carry a higher level of risk than SVCs that do not carry these features," Jevtovic said.

"SVCs that can be redeemed internationally, such as pre-paid travel cards, carry greater levels of risk than those that can only be redeemed in Australia."

He said while SVCs were used by many Australians travelling overseas, and given as gifts to others travelling, business owners who sell the cards should "familiarize themselves" with risk assessment procedures to ensure the cards are not used for terror funding. Endit