C'mon, moving money is not a crime but moving money that has been illegally obtained is a crime (drugs, prostitution, illegal sports book,...) as is concealing the source or target of money sent to terrorist organizations and yes it makes certain things harder than they used to be for the rest of us.
Most of the commenters here have zero connection to reality eh.
For the uninformed: if you cannot complete KYC or proof of wealth checks, you do not lose your money.
The institution you're trying to transact will just will not work with you. They might not for any number of other reasons: adverse media, dodgy transaction history, etc. etc. etc.
Well, no? You can lose your money or access to your money which is very close by the practical means.
A friend of mine wired his money across the border following his relocation, transaction got blocked on KYC for several weeks, rollback became impossible because the source bank got sanctioned in the meanwhile. Money was forfeited with very little chance of recovery.
My personal account was frozen once due to KYC which made it impossible to pay the rent. Luckily I've had some reserves to live but paying for an appartement in cash isn't legal in my country of residence.
Saying "it's just the institution won't work for you" is extremely deceptive, on purpose or not. There are complementary laws that make sure you HAVE to deal with these institutions so when they close the door you're screwed.
> For the uninformed: if you cannot complete KYC or proof of wealth checks, you do not lose your money.
Your money indefinitely frozen without a clear process that requires lawyers, courts, money?, and time is essentially you losing your money.
That is the problem with this approach if you are a small guy. A big guy/corporation can pull other resources to fight this. You can't as it is probably your only bank account.
Only one of 1000 money laundering alerts ends in prosecution of a criminal. 999 are innocent people suffering.