Anti Money Laundering is the detection and prevention of money laundering or its facilitation. It aims to prevent, detect, stop the flow of illicit funds. This crime can be very destructive to all countries that have a stable economy because it involves the misuse of financial resources (such as cash) that could benefit the criminal(s) and the country(s) that the criminals operate their business/organization in. This also includes other crimes like terrorism financing, tax frauds, money laundering, and money laundering through companies and even telecommunications activities. In any case, an institution or a person guilty of money laundering will go to great lengths to avoid detection, investigation, and punishment.
The main problem with money laundering is that other criminals can misuse the financial information of a particular person. This could result in multiple crimes or even activities. The process of anti-money laundering started in the 1970s with the passage of the USA Patriot Act. Since then, various types of financial regulations and rules have been designed and developed to become a victim of money laundering themselves.