Sure they are.

But there’s a growing trend of criminal funds being laundered through debt recovery litigation rather successfully. With debt recovery claims in full flood due to the recession, criminals are sneaking dirty cash through unnoticed.

According to the Law Society, criminals are setting up cash-intensive businesses, mixing legitimate cash with dirty cash and then creating documents to suggest a legitimate debt. They then use a clean creditor business to instruct solicitors to recover the debt. When the fake debtor makes a payment, the funds are passed through the solicitor’s bank account and back to the client, nicely laundered. Very innovative.

Money laundering scams are embarrasing for lawyers who get suckered (and can carry serious penalties as any practicing solicitor will know from regular AML training seminars, yawn) even if they are fairly sophisticated. But for a lawyer to get caught out in an e-mail scam… and then make a film about it…