Cifas members and law enforcement agencies have warned that students are an attractive target for ‘herders’ who use social media and online platforms to persuade young people to act as ‘money mules’.
A money mule is someone who moves and hides illegally gained money on behalf of criminals.
More than 19,000 muling reports were filed to the Cifas National Fraud Database (NFD) from January to June 2024 – a rise of more than 2,000 reports compared to the same time period last year.
Cifas intelligence suggests the herders are using new tactics to potentially recruit young people. Typically, they create and post fake adverts online disguised as job opportunities and ask students to provide bank details so funds can be transferred between accounts.
Stephen Dalton, director of intelligence at Cifas, said: “Herders will often set up fake profiles to infiltrate social media groups to target victims and depict a luxury lifestyle online to try and sell the idea that muling is low-risk and offers high reward.
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“However, it is money laundering and plays a significant role in funding wider organised crime such as drug dealing, terrorism, and human trafficking. Muling has never been a harmless ‘side hustle’ or an ‘easy way’ to make money and should not be a ‘normalised’ crime.”
Cifas has teamed up with UK Finance to launch the ‘Don’t Be Fooled’ campaign providing information and support about money muling.
Sarah Sinden, Don’t Be Fooled spokesperson, said: “Criminals try to entice students with offers of quick cash with no strings attached, so it’s important to never engage with fake adverts or click on links to job offers that seem too good to be true.
“Exploiting young people in this way is dreadful. The criminals are coercing them into breaking the law, and that can harm their future. Being a money mule can have long-term consequences for students, like losing their place at university, finding it difficult to access credit or loans, and having their bank account closed.”
Tips to avoid becoming a money mule
- Don’t give your bank account details to anyone unless you know and trust them.
- Be wary of job offers where all interactions and transactions will be done online.
- Be cautious of unsolicited offers of easy money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Research any company that makes you a job offer and make sure their contact details are genuine.
- Be wary of job offers from overseas. It will make it harder for you to find out if they are legitimate.
- Be wary of job ads that are written in poor English with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
