Imagine that a criminal gang has earned $200 million from manufacturing and selling illicit drugs. They're looking for a way to launder this money and intend to carry out the following plan. Firstly, they plan to invest their dirty money in a plot of land in the Philippines that they can buy for cash. Months later, they plan to sell the land to a developer who will pay them using a cashier's order. The cashier's order will then be used to open and fund a new brokerage account that they will open in Hong Kong. Using this brokerage account, they will buy and sell stocks actively unconcerned with whether they make a profit or a loss until they eventually close the account and ask the broker to wire the remaining cash to their bank. Finally, they plan on opening a new bank account online in five minutes. With a virtual bank, the account will receive the incoming transfer from the broker and they can then begin using the money. So could it work? Potentially? It might. It all depends on how thorough and patient the gang is with everything they do to legitimize themselves and their money through the three steps. It also depends on how thorough the other parties are in determining who they are dealing with and the source of their funds. This applies particularly to the broker and the virtual bank.