CC-101 · Lesson 4 · Red flags in our sector

Seven families of red flag in property

Nobody remembers a list of forty indicators. Almost everybody can remember seven shapes — and the shapes are what you are actually looking for.

23 September 2026 · Amanda Dunn · 5 min read

Red flag lists have a problem: they are long, and the moment you memorise one you start looking for those exact things and stop noticing anything else.

Grouping them into families works better. There are roughly seven in property, and once you know the shapes you can recognise a variant you have never seen written down.

One — unusual instructions or pressure

Urgency with no reason behind it. Pressure to complete quickly, financing that changes at the last minute, no clear commercial purpose, a buyer who will not inspect. Speed is the recurring theme — laundering often needs the money to move.

Two — avoiding normal contact

Reluctance around identity checks, avoiding meeting in person, insisting on messaging apps only. Not sinister on its own; plenty of people are simply busy or private. It matters as part of a pattern.

Three — third parties who do not add up

Someone else clearly directing while the customer denies a connection. A purchase in the name of a relative, a minor, or a party who has never appeared. Ownership changing shortly before settlement.

Four — profile and paperwork mismatch

Apparent wealth that does not fit the stated occupation. Identity documents that are inconsistent or cannot be authenticated. Vagueness about where the funds came from — or irritation at being asked.

Five — money behaving strangely

Cash, particularly in large amounts. A deposit sitting in trust longer than it needs to and then being redirected. Virtual assets offered as payment. A quick resale at a price nobody can explain.

Six — over or undervaluation

A price well above or well below market with no logical driver. Both directions matter: overpaying moves more money into the asset, underpaying moves value to the buyer for reasons that may be settled elsewhere.

Seven — shell and offshore structures

A purchasing company with no trading history. An entity in a secrecy jurisdiction with no commercial reason to be involved. Structures are legitimate every day of the week — the flag is a structure without a purpose anyone can articulate.

Every one of these has an innocent explanation, and most of the time the innocent explanation is the right one. That is exactly why the judgement is not yours to make alone.

One flag is a question. Three is a pattern. →How to weigh what you have noticed without talking yourself out of it.

Where Curlew fits

Curlew screens your customers against the DFAT Consolidated List automatically as part of the due diligence flow, so the check that can be automated is, and the result is recorded whichever way it comes back — a clear result is evidence too.

The seven families above are not something software can detect for you. What it can do is give you somewhere to record what you noticed, on the customer record, at the time you noticed it — so the observation survives the week.