Scammers usually are after one or two things from their victims- their money, and/or their personal information to steal more money. Sometimes a scammer will take your money and ID then they will try to get you to help them launder the stolen money from other victims.
Laundering money is important to a fraudster to disguise the fact
the money is stolen. The stolen money is moved through a series of accounts and
steps to a legitimate (or legitimate seeming) account that the fraudster controls.
By taking steps to hide the origins of the stolen money, the fraudster makes it
more difficult for law enforcement agencies to track the stolen money and show
that it came from a criminal enterprise.
One tool to help with this process is a money mule. Traditionally,
a money mule was a person who physically moved cash from one place to another. Money
mules still exist, only now they may move cash, but they also can move money
electronically from one account to another.
Fraudsters can use people who they hire or control and who know
they are laundering money (the FBI refers to these people as complicit). Fraudsters
can also trick a person into acting as a money mule (or being an unwitting
actor) through a scam such as a romance scam or through a job offer.
Job offers might be an “easy” work-at-home “opportunity” as a
“finance officer” or “money processing agent.” If you take the job, you might
find that all you have to do is receive money that you deposit in your own bank
account from people or entities that you do not know, then transfer the money
to other people or entities that you do not know.
Fraudsters also recruit money mules through romance scams. At some
point, not always right away, they may ask you to accept some money in your
personal account, then transfer it to someone else that you do not know.
While the fraudster may have a cover story for why he/she would
like you to help move this money, its real sources come from crimes such as
drug trafficking, human trafficking, or other financial crimes. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, fraudsters used money mules to launder stolen relief funds
such as unemployment benefits and small business loans.
Some signs of a money mule scam include,
·
You are asked to use your personal bank account or create an
account in your name to receive money from someone you have never met.
·
You may be told to keep a portion of the money that they transfer.
·
Your new “employer” communicates with you via a common web-based
email service such as Gmail or Microsoft Outlook.
·
You receive an unsolicited email or social media message that
promises easy money for little or no effort.
Being a money mule, unwitting or complicit, can put you in serious
legal jeopardy. The FBI warns that you can be prosecuted and incarcerated for
participating in a criminal money laundering conspiracy. You can be charged
with federal crimes such as mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money
laundering, and aggravated identity theft. Your credit and financial standing
can also be damaged. In addition, the fraudsters can steal your personal information
to use in their other criminal schemes and you could be held personally liable
for repaying money lost by victims. In many cases, the fraudsters who you were
working for have disappeared, leaving you to hold the “bag” when law
enforcement authorities knock on your door.
If you think that you are being or have been recruited to work as
a money mule report it to,
·
The Washington State Attorney General’s Office- https://www.atg.wa.gov/contactus.aspx
·
The FBI-
o
Internet Crime complaint Center- https://www.ic3.gov/
o
Seattle Field Office- https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/seattle
·
Federal Trade Commission- https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
·
United States Postal Inspection Service, if the scammers contacted
you through the mail-
o
Call- 877-876-2455
o
Or file online- https://www.uspis.gov/report
United States Postal Inspection Service:
https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/money-mule
Federal Bureau of Investigation:
https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/money-mules
AARP:
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/money-mule-scams/
AARP The Perfect Scam-
While I have been focusing on money mules, people can be recruited
to move other illegal goods such as stolen merchandise or illegal drugs. This
episode describes how easy it is to get caught up in becoming a mule and the
serious consequences if apprehended, in this case a foreign country.
https://www.aarp.org/podcasts/the-perfect-scam/info-2025/blind-mule-drug-trafficking-scam.html
Federal Trade Commission:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2020/03/whats-money-mule-scam
South Snohomish County Crime Watch-
https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2019/12/money-mules-helping-scammers-steal.html
Investopedia-
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/moneylaundering.asp
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