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:

1. 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.
2. These scammers persuade their victims to accept working for their bogus "company", sometimes using contracts of employment that look quite genuine.
3.  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.
4. 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:

1. Get over that easy money daydreaming that can make you vulnerable to deceitful offers.
2. Be suspicious of any job that implies receiving and transfer of funds.
3. Check the company’s credentials previous to accepting a job offer.
4. 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!