**** Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre Release

 

Money mule awareness

Increasingly, fraud networks are recruiting unsuspecting victims to receive and transfer money from other victims. Being used as a money mule victimizes you, victimizes others and can get you tied into a money laundering scheme and could result in facing criminal charges.

What is a money mule?

A money mule is a person who’s recruited by fraudsters to serve as a middle person to transfer stolen money. This is process is known as money laundering, which is a crime. The money mule may, or may, not know that they’re a pawn in a larger network. When a mule moves money, it becomes harder to identify the fraudsters from the victims.

They often transfer the money using:

• bank wire transfers
• email money transfers
• money service businesses
• virtual currencies

Typically, mules receive a small percentage of the money transferred. Fraudsters may disguise these funds as:

• “a payment from clients”
• “a loan for a crypto investment”
• “prize winnings”
• and much more

Examples of money mule traps

The following scams are examples of how fraudsters can trick victims into becoming a money mule:

Job scam example

• Victims are approached by suspects, most commonly after posting their resume on a website
• The suspect may offer a position such as “payment processor”, “financial officer” and “administrative assistant” among others
• Suspects will advise that your job duties include accepting payments from clients into your personal account, and then transferring it to an account in a different country
• In most cases, victims will then be asked to keep a small percentage of the payment and send the remaining amount via virtual currencies

Prize scam example

• Victims are told that they are the winner of a lottery or sweepstakes
• They are then sent “advance payments” on their winnings, then asked to forward it to a “financial office” to cover fees or taxes

Romance scam example

• A victim meets someone online and begins a relationship with them
• The suspect will gain the trust and affection of the victims over a lengthy period of time (months)
• The suspect will convince the victims they are an investor, engineer, in the military or someone prestigious
• Often, the suspect will provide victims with a cell phone to communicate with them
• The suspect will request that the victims open a bank account and to send the suspect a bank card

In these examples, the payments received are often from other victims and by transferring these funds to criminals you become a money mule.

 

How to protect yourself

• If you receive funds for any reason from an unknown person or company, and they ask you to forward it elsewhere, don’t
• Watch out for messages about winning a prize or lottery that you never entered
• You should question any request to conduct unusual or questionable financial transactions on behalf of a third party