FBI warns of money mule scams

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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The FBI has published a warning on its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website about the danger of fake job adverts and “work at home” scams.

The scams normally involve a criminal gang hiring an often innocent third party (known as a “money mule”) to transfer stolen money deposited in their account. The mule, who is usually recruited via spam email with promises of how they can make fortunes by working from home for a financial institution, usually takes a percentage of the money transferred for their efforts.

Of course, there is not only the risk that the money mule will hand over personal information to the criminal gang (including their bank account details) in the belief that they are dealing with a legitimate employer, but also that the police will not look kindly on their involvement in the criminal activity.

According to APACS, the UK’s Association for Payment Clearing…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.