What is money laundering and how can you protect yourself from it
Most people have never come into contact with money laundering and rarely hear about it. That’s a good thing! To keep it this way we have summarized in this post what money laundering is, what you can do to protect yourself from it and what North Star is doing to prevent money laundering. Money laundering is an attempt to reintegrate illegally obtained assets into the legal economic cycle. Other criminal offenses, such as fraud or identity theft, may be leading to money laundering. As an example, money from a fraud case is deposited into a bank account and enters the legal business stream, the money is “laundered”.

What can you do to avoid money laundering?
We recommend not to disclose any personal data such as your name, date of birth, place of birth, address, email address, etc. to third parties. This includes copies of documents such as your ID, passport, birth certificate, driver’s license, and so forth.

Never give your bank account or bank and credit card details to third parties. This includes your email address, your password, your North Star pin, and your bank and credit card pin. Be critical of information you find on third-party websites. You can usually spot false or misleading information.

What are we doing to prevent money laundering?
As a licensed Finance company meets regulatory requirements to prevent money laundering. This includes identity verification, ongoing transaction monitoring, and numerous other security measures.
What happens if money laundering happens?

We report any suspicious transactions that indicate the existence of money laundering, terrorist financing, or any other criminal offense to the Swiss Financial Transaction Investigation Unit (FIU). Further investigations are then carried out by responsible law enforcement authorities.

Protect yourself from smishing scams with this simple guide
Keep your sensitive information safe from SMS-based fraud.

What is smishing?
Phishing is a type of cyber attack that happens via text message, or SMS message. It’s a combination of the words “SMS” and “phishing” (a type of online scam). You might also see it written as ‘SMiShing.’ In a smishing attack, you might receive a mysterious message asking you to transfer money for an unpaid bill or to help a friend in need. Scammers might also be trying to get other personal information such as your bank details, card numbers, email addresses, and more. They’re generally interested in stealing funds, but might also be attempting identity theft.