Sanctions Evasion Reference

Typology

A published study describing how a category of illicit activity is actually carried out, built from case material contributed by member jurisdictions.

reviewed

2026-08-20

Typology reports are the primary open literature on financial crime method. FATF, the Egmont Group and the regional FATF-style bodies produce them by pooling sanitised cases from members and generalising the patterns.

They are the ceiling this site works to. A typology report describes mechanics at the level needed for recognition and stops short of anything operational, and that is deliberately the standard applied to every technique page here.

Where this term is used

  • What is hawala and how does informal value transfer work? — Settling obligations between brokers in different countries by netting them against each other, so a customer's payment reaches a recipient abroad without any funds crossing a border.
  • What is shell company layering? — Layering is the use of successive companies in different jurisdictions between an asset and its owner, so that no single register, filing or payment record shows the connection between them.
  • What is trade misinvoicing? — Trade misinvoicing is misstating the price, quantity or description of goods on trade documents, so that value moves across a border in a direction and an amount the paperwork does not admit.

Related terms

  • Red-flag indicator — A published, attributable observation that a transaction or relationship warrants further enquiry, drawn from patterns seen in past cases.
  • Panel of Experts — A group of specialists appointed by the UN Security Council to monitor a sanctions regime and report publicly on violations and evasion methods.
  • Financial intelligence unit — The national agency that receives suspicious activity reports, analyses them, and disseminates intelligence to law enforcement and to counterpart units abroad.

Sources

  1. Trade-Based Money Laundering: Trends and Developments. Financial Action Task Force and Egmont Group, 2020.
  2. Concealment of Beneficial Ownership. Financial Action Task Force and Egmont Group, 2018.
  3. Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. Egmont Group, 2026.

All glossary terms