The FBI recently announced charges against two Russians for a long-lasting cybercrime spree that targeted thousands of computers with malicious computer code that allowed them to steal banking credentials then funnel money out of the victims’ accounts eventually into the criminal’s accounts.
In some cases, the criminals used “money mules” who transferred the stolen money from one account to other accounts in an attempt to launder the money, obscuring the fact that it had been stolen. Eventually the money winds up in the criminals’ accounts. Laundering the money in this way makes it more difficult for the investigators to tie the money in a suspect’s account(s) to crime.
Criminals recruit others to become money mules. They do their recruiting in several places including,
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Online job websites
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Online dating websites
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Social networking websites
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Online classifieds
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Email Spam
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Dark web Forums
Individuals who could be at risk to becoming a mule include:
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College students
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People new to the U.S.
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Small business owners
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Elderly individuals
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Recent retirees
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People looking for a job
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People looking for a relationship
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People with memory loss
Many money mules are unaware that they have a criminal laundering role. These unwitting or unknowing individuals are often solicited via an online romance scheme or online job scheme. They may be asked to establish a bank account in their true name to receive money from someone that they have never met in person. Often, they are told to keep a small percentage of the transferred funds as “payment” for their efforts. They are not aware that what they are doing is illegal because they trust that they are in an online romance or a legitimate business relationship.
Money mules launder funds from criminal activities such as wire fraud, business email compromise, romance fraud or human trafficking. Acting as a money mule, an individual is committing a crime and is liable to prosecution and even incarceration.
This is important because, like scammers, criminals who approach you to help them launder their criminally receive funds use emotion to entrap you into their enterprise. The opportunity for romance, be it online and that you may not have met the individual in person or the opportunity to make easy money at home can raise your emotions.
Watch out for anyone, as a business deal or in an online romance, who asks you to use your own bank account to receive and forward money.
For more on this, check out these links,
FBI:
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/charges-announced-in-malware-conspiracy-120519
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/money-muling-is-illegal-120419
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/money-mule-awareness-booklet.pdf/view
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