Money Muling Awareness Campaign

Rathmore & District Credit Union were one of the Credit Unions to attend the launch of the Money Muling Awareness Campaign in Tralee recently.

An Garda Síochána had a strong presence there and highlighted a large volume of cases that had occurred in Kerry.

Crime Prevention Officer for Kerry, Garda Mike Quirke, was delighted to have the Credit Unions on board to support them for the campaign.

The Credit Unions are currently in the process of arranging visits to local Secondary Schools in their area and An Garda Síochána will attend these visits as well.

During the visits students, who are the prime target for money muling criminals, will be advised of the warning signs (listed below). Money muling is a criminal offence and conviction includes fines, prison sentence, being placed on a terrorism watchlist for life and a ban on travelling abroad.

A money mule is a person who receives money from a third party in their bank account and transfers it to another one or takes it out in cash and gives it to someone else, obtaining a commission for it

What are the Warning Signs?

• Money mule adverts or offers may copy a genuine company’s website and have a similar web address to make the scam seem authentic.
• If done by email, the writing is often awkward and includes poor sentence structure with grammatical and spelling mistakes. The email address associated with the offer uses a web-based service (Gmail, Yahoo!, Windows Live Hotmail, etc.) instead of an organisation-based domain.
• These adverts will normally state that they are an overseas company seeking ‘local/national representatives’ or ‘agents’ to act on their behalf for a period of time, sometimes to avoid high transaction charges or local taxes.
• The position involves transferring money or goods.
• The specific job duties are not described.
• The position does not list education or experience requirements.
• All interactions and transactions will be done online. The offer promises significant earning potential for little effort.
• The nature of the work that the company will claim to be involved in can vary, but the specifics of the job being advertised invariably mean using your bank account to move money.

** Michael Brosnan (Rathmore & District Credit Union) pictured above with fellow Credit Union colleagues and members of An Garda Síochána at the launch.