The United States Department of State through its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2018 points to Costa Rica’s vulnerabilities when it comes to organized crime and money laundering.

“Transnational criminal organizations continue to employ Costa Rica as a base for financial crimes due to limited enforcement capacity and its location on a key transit and operations route for narcotics trafficking. Costa Rica has significantly strengthened its legal framework for supervision and enforcement and is working steadily to implement new legislation. Additional resources for key units and enhanced penalties for narcotics-related financial crimes could mitigate current challenges”, starts the report.

When it comes to the vulnerabilities, the report states that the largest source of laundered assets proceeds from drug trafficking, although, “human trafficking, financial fraud, corruption and contraband smuggling also generate illicit revenue”.

According to this report, the main industries used to launder money are the construction and real estate industries, money or value transfer services (MVTS) as well as casinos and online gaming services; perhaps this doesn’t come as news, but now, cyber currencies also represent a concern, “Cyber currencies remain unregulated, and the expected opening of Costa Rica’s first bitcoin automated teller machine in the near future will likely increase vulnerability to laundering through virtual currencies”.

The director of the Costa Rican Drug Institute (ICD), Guillermo Araya, agrees with this assessment, and considers that the Central Bank of Costa Rica should analyze this and decide whether to forbid or regulate crypto currencies.

“Contrary to the banks, with this digital currency there is no clarity with regards to the origin of the funds.
This is what is concerning, that it could be being used to legitimate assets that come from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, human trafficking or gun trafficking”, stated Araya in an interview with AmeliaRueda.com

The Judicial Investigative Police had already raised its concern with regards to the use of crypto currencies, stating it gives criminals an advantage to operate without leaving a trace.