Yahoo Finance Soaring number of young people used as 'money mules' by criminals
Thousands of young people are being used as “money mules” to transfer the proceeds of crime through their bank accounts.
There was a 105% increase in the practice over the past year involving those aged 21 or under to 6,484 cases.
Authorities say criminals are exploiting cash-strapped students and young people out of work or on poor wages to launder cash generated through illegal activities.
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A mule allows their bank account to be used by others to transfer money in and out of it, and in return, keep some of the money for themselves.
Simon Dukes, chief executive of Cifas, the UK’s fraud prevention service, said: “The criminals behind money mules often use the cash to fund major crime, like terrorism and people-trafficking.
“We want to educate young people about how serious this fraud is in the hope that they will think twice before getting involved.”
Cifas said there were 8,652 cases of bank accounts belonging to 18- to 24-year-olds being misused in the first nine months of this year, a 75% increase in the last 12 months.
That is double the number in 2013 when there were 4,315 cases.
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Cifas said young people, including students, are often targeted because they are vulnerable and short of money.
Katy Worobec, head of fraud and financial crime prevention, cyber and data sharing, at UK Finance, the organisation behind Financial Fraud Action UK, said: “Money muling is money laundering and criminals are using young people as mules in increasing numbers.
“When you’re caught, your bank account will be closed, making it difficult to access cash and credit. You could even face up to 14 years in jail.
“We’re urging people not to give their bank account details to anyone unless they know and trust them.
“If an offer of easy money sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
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A campaign called Don’t Be Fooled has been launched to alert young people to money muling.
In a similar vein, the National Crime Agency has revealed growing evidence that criminal gangs are using children, often as young a 12, to carry drugs for them.
The Times reports that as many as 700 operations are known to the NCA as gangs use children to ferry drugs from major cities to country towns to expand their networks.
The majority of the drug mules were aged between 14 and 17 and had often been excluded from education.
Islington councillor Joe Caluori told the newspaper that “kidnap, torture, severe physical attacks and threats to rape and kill” had been used to coerce young recruits.
