Criminal organisations usually adopt a money laundering approach to hide the source of their illicit funds to make money legal and prevent criminals from being investigated. However, it helps money launderers to hide from law enforcement and trace their money trails.
Money muling is one of the most commonly used methods of money laundering, which is currently affecting the overall economic business model of digital crime. Due to the drastic emergence of online banking services, the risks of money laundering and illegal money transfers through mule accounts have increased. Nonetheless, it allows criminals to conduct money mule scams to launder illegitimate money and remain unsuspected.
But what is a money mule scam, how does it work, how to identify it, and how to prevent yourself from this fraud? If you ask these questions, then this is a must-read blog for you to find all the answers in one place.
What is Money Muling?
Money muling or a money mule scams is a type of financial fraud used by criminals to use an unsuspected or innocent person’s bank account to launder money acquired through illicit means. Usually, the scammers trap and convince the individual to receive and transfer money via their bank account.
The most common scenarios of money muling include offering fake job offers, work-from-home programs, romance scams, lottery scams, and technical support fraud. In such cases, victims are unaware that the money they are receiving and transferring is acquired from illegal means and is being laundered through mule accounts. Doing this helps criminals to make it difficult for law enforcement to trace the source of funds.
The person who is targeted to be used for money laundering is known as mule. However, the mule, while receiving or transferring money, might think that they are participating in a job, making an investment, or helping an online friend. Yet, for this purpose, they are offered commission for receiving and transferring money.
Money mule fraud is considered illegal and if a person, conducting this crime, gets caught, he may encounter some serious consequences such as penalties, sentence, huge fines, and a decrease in their credit score. Therefore, it is crucial to remain alert if an individual gets any offer that doesn't sound to be true. Moreover, it is also advised to not share your bank account details to any third person.
How does the Money Mule Scam Work?
The process of money muling is pretty straightforward that includes several steps:
- The fraudulent acquire money through illegitimate means such as corruption, drug or arm trafficking, ecommerce fraud, or phishing etc.
- Then the criminal searches an individual to make him the target of a money mule.
- The criminal contacts the mule in a fraudulent manner whether by offering a fake job, lottery, or government support system to convince and trap the victim.
- Once the person gets persuaded, they receive money in their bank account and transfer it to a third-party account.
- However, the mule has to follow the instructions for transferring the money, such as exchanging the funds into cryptocurrency.
- Once the money is transferred, it reaches the criminal successfully, leaving the victim as a centre of investigation of money laundering.
4 Warning Signs to Identify Money Muling
If you want to know whether you are becoming the target of money mules money laundering, you should keep an eye on some red flags of money laundering and recognise money mule activity:
For Victims
- You are surprisingly contacted and get a job offer with easy and huge money that sounds too good to be true.
- Your job requires you to receive and transfer funds through your personal bank account.
- The job offer is only through online or social media platforms and no company is involved in it.
- The name of the sender and the company don’t match with each other.
For Businesses
- Customers become unwilling to perform the Know Your Customer process.
- Users login from different geolocations every time.
- Large transactions spontaneously.
- Funds deposited and withdrawn quickly.
Prevent Yourself from Money Mule Scams
To prevent money mules in banking and becoming their victim, you should take some prevention measures, such as:
- Do not provide your bank account details or other financial information to anyone, especially to someone you don’t know.
- Remain alert of sudden and surprising employment offers, specifically those that involve funds transfer.
- Beware of unexpected messages, emails, calls, and social media requests that may steal your personal or financial information.
- If you have doubt that you’ve become a money muling victim, report it right away to the bank authorities and law enforcement.
- Be cautious of accepting anyone’s friend request on social media platforms.
- Use unique and powerful passwords for all your accounts including social media and bank accounts. Also, try to enable two-factor authentication.
- Lastly, educate yourself about how to deal with and report money mule scams to avoid becoming the main target of money laundering investigations.
By taking these measures, you can diminish the risks of becoming a victim of money mule scams and protect your finances.
