There were 1,719 money mule transactions amounting to €31 million identified in just one week of a campaign against this crime, with more than 90% linked to cyber-related crimes, such as phishing, online auction fraud, Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) and CEO fraud.

For the first time, romance scams and holiday fraud (booking fraud) were also reported by law enforcement authorities, while there was an increasing role of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) transactions used in money laundering schemes used by the criminals.

Criminals often dupe innocent victims into laundering money on their behalf with the promise of easy money by using seemingly legitimate job adverts, online posts, social media and other methods.

Law enforcement authorities from 26 countries (not Malta), supported by Europol, Eurojust and the European Banking Federation (EBF), joined forces in the third coordinated global action against money muling.

During an action week from November 20 to 24, 159 individuals were arrested across Europe, 409 were interviewed by law enforcement authorities and 766 money mules were identified.

The campaign has evolved from previous editions towards targeting not only the money mules, but also the money mule organisers. This resulted in 59 recruiters/organisers being identified.

Money mules are recruited by criminal organisations as money laundering intermediaries to receive and transfer illegally obtained funds between bank accounts and/or countries. This illicit money muling helps fund other forms of organised crime, such as drug dealing, human trafficking and online fraud.

Criminals often dupe innocent victims into laundering money on their behalf with the promise of easy money by using seemingly legitimate job adverts, online posts, social media and other methods. Newcomers to a country, the unemployed, students and people in economic hardship often feature amongst the most susceptible to this crime.

Even if money mules act unwittingly, they are committing a crime by laundering the illicit proceeds of crime. Depending on the country’s legal framework, they can face a prison sentence, fine or community service, and the prospect of never again being able to secure a mortgage or open a bank account.

To raise awareness of these crime schemes among the public, the joint money muling awareness campaign #DontBeaMule kicked off on Tuesday. With awareness-raising material available for download in 19 languages, the campaign aims to inform the public about how these criminals operate, how they can protect themselves and what to do if they become a victim.

From today until Friday, international partners from law enforcement, judicial authorities and financial institutions will be supporting this campaign at national level.

Watch: What is money muling? https://youtu.be/Yc89fclFgGo

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.