FinCEN issues an alert warning financial institutions about cross-border transfers linked to the smuggling and exploitation of illegal migrants

The alert highlights financial patterns tied to human-smuggling operations — including rapid small-value transfers, funnel accounts, structuring, and transactions involving high-risk corridors in Latin America — and provides red-flag indicators to help institutions identify related illicit activity. It stresses that timely SAR filings, detailed narratives, and cooperation with law enforcement are essential to disrupting smuggling networks and protecting vulnerable migrants from exploitation.