Money Laundering is the process adopted by  criminals through which money obtained from criminal activities is concealed or  disguised.

Financing of terrorism refers to the various forms of  financial support to terrorists or organizations for achieving their aims. The source  of funds can be legal or illegal.

Money laundering and terrorist financing are linked  because funds used for terrorist financing are usually laundered to disguise or  conceal the purpose.

Cash is the most common medium of exchange in  criminal activities. Criminals use different techniques to transform the large  amount of cash received before it can be integrated into legitimate business  activities. This will involve many transactions through both the financial and  non-financial systems. In addition to  the common money laundering methods via the financial system like bank deposits,  account transfers, remittance or investments in various financial products, in  recent years, the international trend of money laundering activities indicates  that the following non-financial businesses and professions are being used to carry  out money laundering activities, so as to conceal or disguise the source of  fund:-

• Use of alternative  remittance system such as the hawala  used in South Asia, the Chinese fei ch’ien, the Thailand phoe kuan,  or the "door to door" in the  Philippines.
• Through commercial  transactions involving large amount of cash, like purchase of real estates,  motor vehicles, precious metal, precious stones, etc.;
• Through gaming  activities which involve large volume of cash transactions; (e.g. exchange of  chips without verifiable gaming activities)
• Use of trust and company service providers such as  financial intermediaries, professionals like lawyers, accountants and tax  advisers when they perform financial activities on behalf of their clients.

According to Articles 3 and 4 of Law no. 2/2006 amended by Law no. 3/2017 (Prevention and  suppression of the crime of money laundering) and Article 6 of Law no. 3/2006 amended by Law no. 3/2017 (Prevention  and suppression of the crimes of terrorism), Money Laundering and Terrorist  Financing Activities are considered as criminal offence, punishable with a maximum  penalty of 12 years imprisonment.

According  to Administrative Regulation no. 7/2006 amended by Administrative Regulation no. 17/2017, non-compliance of Anti-Money Laundering  and Counter Terrorist Financing Requirements by an entity subject to the  preventive regime is considered as administrative offence, and is subject to a maximum  fine of MOP500,000 for a natural person and MOP5 million for a legal person.

An ordinary Macao  citizen or even a visitor staying in Macao  for a short period of time has the responsibility to cooperate with the  entities subject to the preventive regime, since the fight against money  laundering and terrorist financing is an international obligation. Without adequate and update information of the  customers or trading parties, it will be extremely difficult for any monitoring  system to work and detect suspicious transactions against the normal pattern of  business activities.

Citizen or visitor can  simply provide personal information, mainly identification document, occupation  and address, etc. Please be reminded  that should a customer refuse to provide the information as requested, under  the present anti-money laundering legislation, the above entities have rights  to decline or terminate the transaction.