$78.8 million of suspicious transactions reported in 2018

The total value of suspicious transactions that were reported in 2018 increased to $78.8 million.

This is according to the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit Annual Report 2018 which states that the total value of suspicious transactions was $49.1 million in 2017.

It has also been noted that there has been an increase in the number of high-value suspicious transactions reported to Fiji Intelligence Unit in 2018 and a decrease in the number of low-value suspicious transactions reported in the same period.

The average value of a transaction reported in 2018 as suspicious was $124,672 compared to $75,503 in 2017.

Majority of the suspicious transactions continue to be reported by commercial banks.

In 2018, majority of the suspicious transactions were reported on the grounds of advance fee fraud and other scams. Suspected tax evasion and fraud were also prevalent contributing to approximately 26.4 percent of the total suspicious transaction reported in 2018.