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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.

11 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. I have been trying by El+Lobo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I have been trying for months to be selected by one of those scammers just for fun and to investigate the whole process. I answer every single strange letter from generous companies, rich princes, ex-gobernants of obscure countries, etc. I replay, playing a stupid character, and get so long as getting a few replies. Then, without a reason, they get absolutly silent.

    I don't know if they get caught or if they just smell that something is fishy, but I guess they are smart and they are searching for a given profile: not too smart, not too dumb, just right....

    --
    It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
  2. 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.
  3. EBay is not a court of law by thehickcoder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    EBay investigated, concluding that Monroe's phantom employer had tied her PayPal account to a fraudulent auction. The auction site's verdict: She was responsible for repaying the full amount to the blameless auction winner. Monroe is now working two part-time jobs to pay the bills and to make the other victim whole.
    Since when does EBay get to decide who is responsible for fraud?
    1. Re:EBay is not a court of law by BlueNoteMKVI · · Score: 5, Informative

      ....since you agreed to their Terms of Service.

      I'm too lazy to look up a citation at 7:30 in the morning, but the last time I looked over the PayPal TOS it pretty much said "we reserve the right to take money out of your account whenever we want to, and your only recourse is to ask us nicely to have it back. Say 'please' and we might consider it."

      Don't ever leave more money in your PayPal account than you can afford to lose.

      For what it's worth, I think a court of law would have agreed in this case that the woman was responsible. It's impossible to really say without details of the eBay auction in question, but she took the customer's money. What she did with it after that is not the customer's problem. If she took his money in exchange for a service/product that she could not provide, she owes the customer his money back.

    2. Re:EBay is not a court of law by torkus · · Score: 4, Informative

      They don't. But, as someone else mentioned the paypal TOS say they can basically take whatever money out of your PP account at will to cover whatever, whenever, at their discretion with no limits and your only recourse is binding arbitration. PP sucks. I hate them. They act like a bank with no limits, no rules, no recourse.

      That said, the solution to dealing with PP is simple. Never *ever* leave money in your PP account. Either don't link it to a bank account or use one with little to no money in it. Preferably link to your credit card - one with very friendly rules about reversing charges. PP will wipe out your account and push you negative ... but they're not going to get any money from your credit card. 'Blanket authorizations' are specifically prohibited by Visa/MC. You can not agree via PP TOS to allow them to hold your credit card as arbitrary security.

      I'm not advocating knowingly using the mule scams to actually make money - that's fraud and illegal.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
  4. Best fake check ever! by clonan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Last year I had someone send me a Money Gram money order to cash for something I was selling on craigslist. I was kinda suspicious when he asked to cash a check for more than I was selling the item for....

    Now I have sold stuff online for years and can usually spot a fake immediatly...This one I had to take to a bank to confirm!

    Someone had stolen a roll of blank money gram money orders and entered a valid serial number and everything. The only thing wrong was the micker ink. The numbers at the bottom of that check were standard ink, not magnetic...

    I still have that check on my fridge.

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Other End of the Money Transfer by Inexile2002 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've lived in Madrid for four years and have heard this story from several different people including an ex girlfriend.

    A tourist looking guy with an American accent will approach people on the street with a sob story about how was robbed or otherwise lost his trekking backpack and included in the loss was his passport and wallet. His mother is sending him a Western Union Money transfer, but he can't collect it without ID. He then asks if he can call the USA with your name and passport number, have the money wired to you (his mom is always "at the Western Union right now!"). You accept and collect the money transfer at zero cost to you - fees are paid on the other end, and then turn the cash over to this guy. I've heard the sum of 275 euros up to over 800. He even offers 50 euros to reluctant people.

    My ex-girlfriend fell for it, and then by coincidence bumped into the same guy two years later, so he's being doing this for a while. I didn't know her the first time she fell for it, but the second time she bumped into the guy, we both assumed it was something to do with drugs but now I'm guessing it probably had something to do with Money Mules.

    Interesting that they actually use intermediates on the other end at least some of the time.

    Also, The Money Mules would be a great name for an 90's cover band.

  8. Re:Best fake check ever! by clonan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Absolutly I accept other forms than cash. Craigslist is only really effective because it is all over the US for free...I have only done one local deal and it WAS cash. Requiering cash for non-local deals is a good way to not sell anything.

    My Experience
    I have found Paypal to be very good so long as you send to a confirmed address and get tracking. I have had several people try and argue it but once I send Paypal the tracking number the dispute goes away in my favor.

    Personal checks are riskier but I still haven't had that much of a problem. I always deposit them first and only ship once it has cleared. In over 1,000 check/money order transactions I have only had one bad check. And the check was bad for lack of funds. The person paid me immediatly with a money order plus my bank fee.

    Legit money orders are usually so easy to identify that I would ship "at risk" before depositing them. I have run across 4 people trying to pass off fake money orders and never lost anything to them.

    The grandparent is note worthy only because it was actually convincing in all but one detail.

    I have had well over 20,000 online transactions and by following the rules above I have had about 30 problems and never lost money on any of them.

    The moral of the story is:

    Online business is safe and effective for everyone involved so long as you don't do anything stupid like ship before confirming payment and always get tracking numbers.