FinCEN Alert on bulk cash smuggling by Mexico-based TCOs

FinCEN has announced it has issued FIN-2025-Alert001, FinCEN Alert on Bulk Cash Smuggling and Repatriation by Mexico-Based Transnational Criminal Organizations, urging financial institutions to be vigilant in identifying and reporting transactions potentially related to the cross-border smuggling of bulk cash from the United States into Mexico and the repatriation of bulk cash into the U.S. and Mexican financial systems by Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).

The Alert highlights one of several typologies that TCOs use to launder illicit proceeds generated in the United States through the cross-border movement of cash and how these operations enable the TCOs to place, layer, and integrate their illicit proceeds into the United States and Mexican financial systems where they can be accessed again to fund their criminal enterprises. It provides an overview of methodologies associated with these operations, highlights red flag indicators, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act.