South Carolina has become a mecca for criminals.

A lack of regulation of money services has opened the state as a place to transfer organized crime cash from drugs, prostitution and human trafficking.

SC Attorney General Alan Wilson has created a Money Services Division under a new state anti-money laundering law. The division will accept applications for licenses to conduct money transmission and currency exchange services.

The law gives police and prosecutors ways to combat organized crime by outlawing money laundering and giving the State Grand Jury jurisdiction to investigate.

“Launderers” conceal criminally-acquired “dirty” money by “cleaning” it through supposedly legitimate businesses.

Criminals try to account for dirty money without raising law enforcement agencies’ suspicions.

For more information on the requirements for licensing, visit the Attorney General’s Office website scag.gov, or contact the Money Services Division at (803)734-1221.