Money mules

Money laundering is when money that has been gained as a result of a criminal/ illegal activity is then “washed” and made to look clean, as if it has come from a legitimate source. It often happens because of fraud.    

When people lose money to fraudsters they can also be used by criminals and become unwitting “money mules”.    

An example of this is when a victim of a romance fraud is asked to accept money into their account because their online love has lost their bank cards and can’t get access to their money. The romance victim / intended money mule may be told to send the money they’ve received to their online love’s family who will hand back to the online love, which is all a lie. 

What has actually happened is that a fraud victim has paid for what they believed was a deposit for a holiday or an accommodation. This money goes into the romance victims’ bank account, who transfers it out to another account they were given details of, which is then quickly transferred into several other accounts and then into the criminal’s bank account. 

Another way criminals recruit money mules is to put an advertisement on a social media platform encouraging people to give their details and make £100 quickly. This is a criminal offence. They are then encouraged to open a new bank account, then send all of the details to the criminals who then use the account to launder money from fraud or other crimes.