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The Anatomy of Money-Mule Scams

Posted by kdawson on from the if-it-sound-too-good-to-be-true dept.

Brian Krebs of the Washington Post's Security Fix blog has up an article on work-at-home money mule scams (backgrounder blog post here). These operations offer victims hundreds or thousands of dollars per week for moving money through their own accounts — a critical piece of the infrastructure for profiting from identity theft and phishing. The article links to the site of a UK fraud fighter named Bob Harrison, who lists hundreds of fradulent money-mule operations.

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. I've been doing this sort of thing for years. by Shag · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm just a pawn in a complicated scheme to surreptitiously move money from my employers to my creditors. And there are thousands of others like me.

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    1. Re:I've been doing this sort of thing for years. by downix · · Score: 5, Funny

      never thought I'd be quoting Drew Carey...

      "we have a club, it's called EVERYBODY! We meet at the bar."

      --
      Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
  2. Typo in TFA by kryten_nl · · Score: 3, Funny

    Monroe was the victim of a "money mule" scam, in which criminals make use of third parties (often unsuspecting victims like Monroe) to launder stolen funds.
    That should of course be:
    ...(often absolute idiots who think that money grows on trees and don't know that when something seems to good to be true it usually is like Monroe)...

    Easy mistake to make, it's in Word's auto-replace list.

    --
    For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
  3. A vital part of the economy! by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Would Monster.com even still exist if it weren't for scams like these?

  4. Re:Another "no news" article? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    "2006 called. They want their news back."

    2001 called. It wants its tired, over-used meme back.

  5. Re:Best fake check ever! by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 3, Funny
    If all else fails, take it to a bank and ask them to run it through their MICR reader before depositing it.

    This is a good idea and will help catch most frauds, but many people have access to a MICR check encoder. I worked for a Fortune 100 retailer and they had one in every store, and they were hardly kept under lock and key. Also, if one were an enterprising criminal, one might just buy one.

    Obviously, the ultimate (and very elegant) coup de grâce would be to buy it with a fraudulent check.