What are mules?
As the criminals behind these frauds are mainly located overseas they attempt to recruit “mules” or “money transfer agents” to launder the funds obtained as a result of phishing and Trojan crimes. Following recruitment the criminals transfer money from the stolen accounts to the mules and they in turn withdraw the money and make overseas payments normally using wire transfer services minus commission as payment. The criminals recruit mules through a variety of methods including spam emails, by placing adverts on genuine recruitment sites and in newspapers. They have also been known to have approached people directly who have placed their CV’s online. Typically the criminals create fake companies or charities which they use to recruit for positions such as “shipping manager”, “financial manager” or “donations manager”. The offers give people the chance to earn money easily for a few hours work each week. The only requirements are usually that you have a bank account (often from a specif
