To hesitate to report this relative for fraud?

[IABUQueen]

Few months ago, a relative of mine asked my DH for a favor. My DH is a yes man and doesn’t have a lot of insight into my relatives lives because they only see each other on occasion.

This favor was to take a sum of money, 2 grand, in cash. And to transfer this money to a third party through the bank.

Now this relative is “close” to me. They made it sound urgent and said they needed it ASAP as of now. So within an hour this was done and DH didn’t question anything. He just assumed it’s a trustworthy thing since they’re related to me.

Now.. this person and I had previously discussed in the past how it’s wrong to avoid paying taxes.. I didn’t have my facts and details to confront but I alluded to it. They responded defensively saying how they’re forced to hide some of the income in their business otherwise they will lose out on benefits and it will make them work around the clock. They have a pretty easy laid back life.

So I confronted at that point and said I think it is immoral because their could be a more deserving family for those benefits. Their reasons is that they don’t want to work a 9-5, that the mother wants to be a stay at home mum and that they need to save up for holidays.

So I kept my nose out of it not to fall out. Shared my discontent.. didn’t tell my DH as I didn’t think it will concern him.

However I was very annoyed when they involved him as I believe the money they gave him was undeclared money and they wanted to “clean it” through us.. I’m annoyed because they know my opinion and I believe they intentionally made sure I don’t find out before it works out.

Now that they’ve done this, I feel like they’ve given me grounds to report them.

But I feel aweful to do so. I’m having a battle with my morals.

Part of me wants to do it to stop them.. part of me thinks im not in their circumstances and so can’t judge... part of me feels like I would find it hard to face them again after I report them as it will be seen as serious betrayal.

What would u do ?

As an Anti Money Laundering Manager in a big bank I suggest you do nothing more. Any further action makes you look like you are covering your tracks. If anyone asks you just tell them the truth that you did x transaction for a person and this is what the money was for and this is where it came from. Please ignore 90% of the advice on this site. What your husband has done is technically money laundering or more specifically he has acted as a middle man or a money mule but it’s small potatoes in the wider world of financial crime. There is a lesson for everyone here in that you should never let anyone use your bank account for any reason.

Thank you Jebus. I will show DH this thread and hopefully he will learn his lesson.

With a relative like you OP, who needs enemies?! You have a right to be angry for them involving your DH, but to consider reporting your own family is pretty

If your DH is seriously as innocent, naive and downright stupid as you describe him here, what do you bloody well see in him? What a bizarre, bizarre thread. Angry to the point of wanting to shit all over your family but don't want your DH who played the major role in any trouble. The law doesn't work how you think it does. Ignorance is no defence. So go on and land yourselves all in it. OR tell your DH not to take part in any more scams and distance yourself from the bad influences before they tell him to jump off a cliff.

You need to tell your family in case they also get sucked into doing something similar - you need to protect them from this fraudster.

Also this:
I think you and dh should go see a criminal defence solicitor. It might cost £200 but they can tell you what the situation is and the consequences of reporting / not reporting.

& this:
The problem is now, banks use all sorts of systems to look for exactly the sort of behaviour outlined in the OP. And behind them, HMRC are all over the place (watching for people trading on eBay, for example).

It may take a while, but they might pick up something in future and start backtracking - where there is no time limit on charging.

& this:

I think your dh should report it because there's always a chance that someone else will and then it will look like he was in on it

I agree with reporting it to avoid looking like you were in on it.

I worked in Court for a long time. A phrase I heard often was "ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law".

It is up to us as individuals to know that if something sounds a bit dodgy, you don't get involved! In money laundering cases the onus is on the accused to prove they didn't know the money came from dubious sources and that is basically impossible for someone to prove. I have seen so many cases like this, I have drummed it into my DC to never have anyone else's money in their account.

If you accept something and give it back, you automatically involve yourself. It's too late for your DH to report it now. As others have side, even if he doesn't end up with a conviction in the end your bank accounts will be frozen and you will have to undergo an investigation.

A while ago on a local bad/good business Facebook group someone (A) slated a high street bank for not allowing her friend to pay cash into A’s account using her (A’s) paying in book and debit card as ID. Reason being she (A) could get to the bank.

A lot of people said that this was the banks policy now and was to do with anti money laundering and fraud prevention. (We live in an offshore crown dependency which is very hot on the AML regulations). A couldn’t understand this. Her friend is not a money launderer. A is not a money launderer. It was “only £260 in coin” she was sent links to AML basics and references to breaking bad (car wash or other high cash business used to clean money specifically coins). But still thought it was outrageous.

she was sent links to AML basics and references to breaking bad (car wash or other high cash business used to clean money specifically coins). But still thought it was outrageous.

But why wasn't your friend using a business bank account for her business paying-in ? (Which has different rules). I can imagine they were doing things on the cheap, but in cases such as that, it's probably a good idea to keep your trap shut, rather than announce it to HMRC and the banks social media team ? Especially as using personal accounts for business is almost a signature tax dodgers move.