The AIF referred 269 cases in 2025 to the Police, Prosecution and Taxes; suspicious transaction reports increased by 8%, while the most used schemes are related to construction, fictitious businesses, international transfers and tax evasion.
The Financial Intelligence Agency has revealed in its annual report for 2025 the main ways in which money is suspected of being laundered in Albania, highlighting a wide range of schemes that include real estate, temporarily registered companies, luxury purchases, works of art, POS transactions, international transfers and the use of personal accounts for undeclared commercial activity.
According to the report, 1,759 suspicious activity reports were sent to the AIF by reporting entities during 2025. Compared to 2024, the number of reports increased by about 8%.
The main source of reports remain banks, notaries and transfer companies. There has been a significant increase in reports from banks by 4.5%, from notaries by 17.7%, from cadastral offices by almost threefold, from the General Directorate of Taxes by almost fivefold and from microcredit entities by 62%.
On the other hand, reports from transfer companies have decreased by 9.3%, but they continue to remain one of the main sources of suspicious transaction alerts.
269 cases were sent for investigation
During 2025, AIF sent 269 cases to law enforcement and tax institutions. Of these, 133 cases were sent to the State Police, 56 to the Prosecutor’s Office and 80 to the General Directorate of Taxes.
According to the report, 225 of these cases had their initial indication in suspicious activity reports. This means that about 83% of the cases referred started from alerts from law enforcement agencies, mainly banks, notaries and other financial institutions.
How is money laundered in Albania? From luxury villas to
The rest is generated from strategic analysis, open sources, requests from institutions, or collaboration with partner financial intelligence units.
AIF has also sent 57 pieces of information to SHISH on suspected issues as an object of common interest and inter-institutional cooperation.
Narcotics, tax evasion and fraud dominate the files
In the classification of origin offenses for 2025, the first place is occupied by cases where the criminal offense has not yet been determined. The “unknown” category includes 83 cases, which indicates that in a large part of the files, the AIF has found financial anomalies, but the crime that generated the funds has not yet been identified.
After this category, the highest number are cases related to the production, sale or trafficking of narcotics, with 41 cases.
Tax evasion and income concealment also occupy an important place. For 2025, 85 cases related to criminal offenses in the field of taxes or suspicions of tax evasion have been identified.
Fraud, financial fraud and computer fraud feature in 12 cases. While 10 cases are related to persons with previous criminal records or previous proceedings.
Other cases relate to corruption, abuse of office, unlawful influence, human trafficking, forgery, theft, smuggling, and financial operations by criminal organizations.
Money laundering through real estate
One of the strongest typologies identified by AIF is investment in real estate with unknown or unjustified sources of funds.
In a specific case, a citizen turns out to have purchased real estate in various areas of Tirana and Kavaja from 2021 to 2025. Initially, he purchased 7,500 square meters of land in Kavaja for 260 thousand euros and also obtained 1,500 square meters through donation.
Then, in 2022, he purchased 8,400 square meters in Preza at a price of 520 lek per square meter. During the years 2023-2025, he made numerous investments in the Dajti area, where he acquired 56 thousand square meters of arable land at prices ranging from 4 to 21 euros per square meter.
According to AIF, the main anomaly is that some of these properties were purchased at prices much lower than market and then resold within a short time at values many times higher.
In one case, a 6,200 square meter plot of land was purchased for 30 thousand euros and then sold for 423 thousand euros. In another case, a 1,850 square meter plot of land was purchased for 15 thousand euros and then sold for 180 thousand euros.
AIF raises suspicions that these movements may have been used to justify unknown funds, creating large profits on paper from the sale of properties.
Construction company, land and machinery unjustified
In the same case, the citizen had also registered a construction and excavation company, through which he had acquired approximately 52 thousand square meters of property in Petrela and 16 thousand square meters in Mullet.
Here too, according to AIF, properties were acquired at very low prices per square meter. The company, although newly established, had reported profits of up to 1.7 million euros and had a considerable number of registered machines in its first year of activity.
This has raised doubts about the source of financing for the machines, the real origin of the funds, and the use of the company as an instrument for money circulation.
Personal accounts as a secret online business
Another scheme identified by the AIF is related to the use of personal accounts for unregistered commercial activity.
In one case, an Albanian citizen had opened a bank account where during the period 2024-2025, deposits of around 300 thousand euros were found from himself and other persons.
Verifications revealed that some of the individuals were family members or relatives. Later, checks at other banks revealed that a total of around 1.9 million euros had been deposited.
According to the AIF, the scheme operated through prepaid cards, which were used to purchase luxury products in various countries. The funds were transferred to personal accounts, transferred to Mastercard cards and then used for online purchases.
Another suspicious element was the benefit of around 350 thousand euros in VAT refunds from companies such as “Planet Tax Free” and “Global Blue Tax Free”.
The verifications showed that the person had registered a business with the purpose of “selling clothing online”, but for 2024 had declared zero income and at the beginning of 2025 had deregistered the activity.
AIF suspects that we are dealing with an unregistered commercial activity, with large cash flows, no income declaration and dubious benefit from VAT refunds.
Beach villas, artwork and money from offshore jurisdictions
The report also highlights a case where money laundering is suspected to have been carried out through the purchase of real estate and works of art with international funds.
Two citizens, with Albanian citizenship and foreign nationality, made high-value purchases in Albania during 2025. One of them, only 18 years old, bought a villa on the coast worth 1.5 million euros.
The financing for the purchase was provided by her sister, 40, a resident of a tax haven. The funds came from a bank account in a southern African country considered at increased risk for corruption and the informal economy.
Subsequently, the sister herself purchased another villa on the coast worth 1.7 million euros, financed from an account in another country with fiscal incentives.
During the first half of 2025, it appears to have invested around 700 thousand euros in works of art in Albania.
According to the AIF, the funds came from companies linked to online gaming in the Seychelles and another tax haven jurisdiction. Cooperation with partner financial intelligence units revealed that one of the companies had been deregistered since 2023, while the spouse of one of the citizens was found to be involved in illegal activities related to organized crime.
The AIF has sent the case for investigation, raising suspicions about the use of offshore companies, the circulation of funds through several jurisdictions, and the investment of money in luxury properties and works of art.
Online marketing companies as a channel for international funds
Another important typology is related to the use of related companies for the circulation of international funds in the online marketing sector.
According to the report, 11 companies registered in Albania have benefited from transfers totaling 3.74 million euros from various countries in Europe and Asia.
The analysis showed that these companies were linked. They carried out the same activity, had common administrators, partners or representatives, and were registered in 2024, only to be deregistered within six months or within the same year.
From cooperation with tax authorities, it resulted that some of these companies had been referred for income concealment and tax evasion.
AIF also communicated with partner units in 7 different countries. From the information received, anomalies were found such as the circulation of funds many times higher than the declarations, the use of accounts for transit transfers, transfers without supporting documentation and the deregistration of entities immediately after the financial activity.
This model shows a possible scheme where short-lived companies are used as a facade to receive and distribute international funds, without real economic activity.
People with criminal records buy property abroad
The report also mentions cases where people with criminal records use transfers, loans and gifts from third parties to purchase real estate.
In one case, a citizen deposited 50,000 euros into his account and received another 75,000 euros from third parties as a loan or gift. He then transferred 120,000 euros to a European country to purchase property.
The verifications revealed that the person had changed his generalities and had a criminal record in the field of narcotics.
The case has been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office for concealment of income and laundering of the proceeds of crime.
POS fraud and attempt to spend over 1 million euros
One of the most unique report schemes is related to POS transactions.
An Albanian company, registered for import-export and trade in goods, established a relationship with a bank in December 2024. A few days later, it put two POS terminals into operation and began testing with a foreign card issued by a bank in Belgium.
On December 26, 2024, the company credits the account via POS with 96 thousand euros and withdraws most of the amount, about 83 thousand euros.
On December 31, the account is credited again with 152 thousand euros. On the same day, the company attempts to credit another 790 thousand euros, but the transactions are blocked by Mastercard International.
In total, the value of completed and attempted transactions amounted to over 1 million euros.
The company justified these transactions with tax invoices in favor of a Belgian entity, under an agreement for services such as escort, rental cars and VIP car rentals, with a total value of 2.5 million euros.
But the AIF found that the activity “tourist, travel agency” had been added only a month before the transactions. Also, the claimed services did not match the historical activity of the Albanian company.
For this reason, the AIF suspects that we are dealing with a financial fraud scheme and potentially also with fiscal violations.
When the criminal act is not identified, the money is followed
One of the most significant findings of the report is that in many cases the criminal offence that generated the funds is not immediately identified. However, the AIF stresses that this does not prevent cases from being referred.
In these cases, the institution follows the principle of “following the money.” If the funds do not have a documented legitimate source, if the transactions do not have economic logic, if supporting documentation is missing, or if the financial movements resemble known money laundering typologies, the file is sent for further verification.
This is why the “unknown” category remains the highest even in 2025, with 83 cases.
The most at-risk sectors
The report shows that the sectors most exposed to money laundering are real estate, construction, international transfers, online commerce, financial services, works of art, online games, digital marketing, and short-lived companies.
In particular, real estate remains one of the most used channels. Below-market prices, quick resales, purchases through companies, venture contracts, donations, loans from third parties and the use of foreign money are some of the mechanisms identified.
The report also shows that money laundering is no longer carried out solely through cash deposits, but through more complex schemes involving prepaid cards, POS, foreign companies, offshore jurisdictions, VAT refunds, fictitious invoices, and activities registered solely to create formal cover.
The AIF report for 2025 shows that money laundering in Albania is becoming increasingly sophisticated, moving from classic forms of cash deposits to complex schemes involving properties, companies, digital services and international funds.
However, the data also shows an increase in reports and referrals to institutions. The main challenge remains the investigation of these cases to the end and the identification of the criminal offense behind the suspicious funds. / Pamphlet