Children as young as 15 are being used by organised criminal gangs to act as ‘money mules’ to launder the proceeds of online fraud through their ‘clean’ bank accounts, gardaí have revealed.
Secondary school and college students are being lured into the practice of having money moved through their accounts for a tempting commission but are destroying their futures when they are caught, gardai warned.
A money mule is someone who allows others to use their bank accounts. The accounts are used to receive or disburse fraudulent or illegally obtained funds, most likely from online fraud and other cyber crime.
The gangs like to use young people with no criminal records because they have no previous interaction with gardai and the gangs feel it lessens their chances of being traced.
Scammers pretending to be bank representatives or State agencies are using clever ‘social engineering’ techniques to dupe people into divulging their codes and PINs so they can then clear out their victim s personal bank accounts.