WhatsApp Hawala Group Moved Hundreds of Millions of Euros, Funding IS and European Crime
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 30
WhatsApp Hawala Group Moved Hundreds of Millions of Euros, Funding IS and European Crime
2 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 30
Summary
A 532-member WhatsApp chat called "Traders of Greater Europe" arranged cross-border hawala cash transfers worth hundreds of millions of euros, with one Brussels payment stream reaching Islamic State militants in Syria.
More than 82,000 messages from February to December 2022 showed brokers coordinating transfers typically above €5,000, using serial-number photos of €5 notes and ID cards to move money without bank records.
Belgian investigators found the chat on the phone of Brussels network head Abu Adam after a 2024 case that convicted six money launderers; magistrate Vincent Guerra said the evidence pointed to at least 12,000 transactions.
The EBU said similar hawala networks also financed drug trafficking, people smuggling and abuse: in Austria, one ring tied to a Vienna kebab shop was linked to trafficking, torture and demands over a lost €350,000.
Europol-linked investigators described hawala as organised crime's primary laundering channel, even though the system is also used legitimately by migrants sending money home and is legal in the UK if brokers register.
How did a simple WhatsApp group silently move hundreds of millions in illicit funds past Europe's most advanced financial watchdogs?
As authorities dismantle ancient hawala networks, are modern fintech platforms inadvertently becoming the new haven for transnational money laundering?
Inside the €500 Billion Hawala Shadow Economy: WhatsApp, Crypto, and the Global Crackdown on Underground Banking (2025–2026)
Overview
The "Traders of Greater Europe" WhatsApp network, exposed by the EBU and BBC, revealed how hundreds of millions of euros were secretly moved across borders using encrypted messaging and the ancient hawala system. Belgian authorities arrested the network’s leader, Abu Adam, whose phone data showed direct links to terrorist financing for Islamic State and connections to human trafficking rings in Vienna, where traffickers tortured couriers and laundered profits. As law enforcement cracked down across Europe and Asia, criminals adapted by using cryptocurrencies, while millions of migrants and refugees continued to rely on hawala for affordable remittances, especially where formal banking is inaccessible. Aggressive bans risk pushing these flows further underground, making regulation and humanitarian aid even harder.