This is a term which has become common knowledge for quite some time
now even though by the number of the victims carrying this name you
would not think so; it seems that the easy money making dream gets the
best of many of us and hoaxers are right besides us to take advantage
of it. They are tirelessly looking for unsuspicious victims who
presented with the job opportunity of their life rush gladly into
accepting the ‘golden" offer.
Basically, the victims are lured into working as
‘agents’ appointed some sort of Financial Manager.
Next, they are required to open an account, where the scammers, using
the ghost company as shield, ‘phish’ funds and
deposit them into the victim’s (now
‘agent’) account.
The bad part only now begins as the poor ‘agents’
get tracked by the police (alerted by the scammed victims of
‘phishing’ ) and eventually charged with serious
financial fraud.
Be aware of the methods used to recruit money mules such as spam
e-mails, adverts on authentic employment web sites, instant messaging
and, of course, adverts in newspapers.
How they do it:
- Hoaxers search for potential victims with "job vacancy" as
a "financial manager" who are thrilled with the idea that they are
required no special skills.
- These scammers persuade their victims to accept working for
their bogus "company", sometimes using contracts of employment that
look quite genuine.
- The job of a money mule once hired is to collect
funds into his accounts, funds which had been drawn off by the scammers
from unfortunate naive victims through phishing.
- Afterwards the Mule is told to transfer the funds to the
accounts specified by the scammers.
Rules on how NOT to become a Money Mule:
- Get over that easy money daydreaming that can make you
vulnerable to deceitful offers.
- Be suspicious of any job that implies receiving and
transfer of funds.
- Check the company’s credentials previous to
accepting a job offer.
- When suspecting that the business opportunity you have
undertaken smells fishy do not hesitate to contact authorities
otherwise you might end up in jail yourself.
Next time you meet a business offer that presents itself way too good
to be real, think twice before throwing yourself at that easy buck!
