Media Release

Smart cards to boost money laundering

16 August 1996

Smart cards, a new form of electronic money, will open up currently unknown forms of money laundering, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.

In a paper on Crime and Telecommunications released by the Institute today, the research says that smart cards are likely to be vulnerable to "reverse engineering".

According to the research, "the transfer of funds from home between different accounts and in payment of transactions will create vulnerabilities in terms of theft and fraud." The paper also argues that the prospective widespread use of electronic money on the InterNet will lead to increased opportunities for crime.

References

• Download paper: Crime and telecommunications