Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada publishes updated operational alert with indicators for laundering linked to online child sexual exploitation

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) issued a new Operational Alert, “Laundering the proceeds of online child sexual exploitation”, updating money laundering indicators intended to help businesses identify and report financial transactions associated with online child sexual exploitation. The alert builds on FINTRAC’s strategic intelligence published in December 2020 and incorporates new developments and indicators identified through analysis of FINTRAC financial intelligence and consultations with financial institutions, Canadian law enforcement and government agencies, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, private-sector organizations, and international financial intelligence units. FINTRAC also highlighted an observed increase in financially motivated offending in recent years, including sexual extortion cases, with schemes targeting Canadian children often linked to organized crime. The updated alert is positioned as supporting Project Shadow, an international public-private partnership targeting money laundering linked to online child sexual exploitation. In 2024–25, FINTRAC generated 57 financial intelligence disclosures for law enforcement in support of Project Shadow, identifying 157 subjects of interest; since Project Shadow’s launch in December 2020, FINTRAC has generated more than 300 disclosures for law enforcement agencies across Canada.