Financial intelligence and law enforcement professionals in Armenia sharpen skills for tackling criminal use of virtual assets at OSCE workshop

Financial intelligence and law enforcement professionals from Armenia completed an intensive training on investigating the misuse of virtual assets at a three-day, expert-level workshop organized by the OSCE, in co-operation with the Financial Monitoring Center (FMC) of Armenia, from 18 to 20 June in Yerevan.

Participants took a deep-dive into investigative techniques and criminal behaviors related to misused virtual assets in illicit financial flows, money laundering, and organized crime. These included cutting-edge topics such as obfuscation techniques, off-chain data cross-referencing, darknet platform simulations, and tracing virtual asset infrastructure linked to illicit activity.

Hands-on exercises also provided a first-hand look at behavioral clustering, decoy wallets, and simulated tracking of transactions. These sessions helped participants strengthen their operational skills and inter-agency co-ordination approaches.

Participants were also introduced to blockchain analytics tools and simulated real-world investigative scenarios, including designated addresses by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and ghost wallets associated with state actors.

The workshop is part of the OSCE’s broader efforts to build national capacities in identifying and countering financial crime involving virtual assets, while promoting cross-border co-operation and knowledge exchange. It was organized as part of the OSCE’s extra-budgetary project, “Innovative policy solutions to mitigate money laundering risks of virtual assets”, which is being implemented by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), with financial support from Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States.