Austrac has sent out a report today to advise that organised criminals use 'cuckoo smurfing' as a method of laundering money to disguise and integrate their funds across borders to profit from and further enable their illegal activities. They note that this method of money laundering generally relies on exploiting the bank accounts of customers expecting to receive legitimate refunds.  These customers are often unaware that the funds transferred into their account are the proceeds of crime.

The Government has produced a factsheet on - Cuckoo surfing: How to spot, avoid, and protect yourself from this money-laundering scheme.