Student Mule Money Laundering

Student Mule Money Laundering.

Warnings have been by Financial Fraud Action which is now being picked up by both newspapers, television and student groups.

The warning is to do with university students being duped into becoming money mules to earn a little extra.

How it works

Money launderers target students via CV sites when students are looking for work.

The deal is simply that you agree to accept a low value transfer into your bank account from overseas say £2,000-£3,000.

You then agree to transfer this money to another account with a commission paid to you, say 10%.

You have earned £200 or £300.

The illegal money has now technically been laundered, it is “clean” and difficult to trace.

Financial Fraud Action acts of behalf of banks to tackle fraud and they claim that nearly one fifth of all students have been approached.

This amounts to a huge fraud operation. You only need a thousand students to launder very quickly many millions of pounds. The FFA suggests that nearly 400,000 have, in error, got involved. You only need to do the numbers multiplying say 400,000 accounts by £3,000.

Our view

If it looks too good to be true, it is. If you are approached about transferring money, the alarms bells should ring.

Remember, money laundering is a criminal offense and punishable with imprisonment.