About Me
Robert Siciliano
Online Security and Safety Evangelist to McAfee Robert is an identity theft expert who is committed to ...
Feeds & Podcasts
Consumer Blogs
- Consumer Threat Alerts (19)
- Consumer Threat Notices (1)
- Cyber Security Mom (182)
- Cyber Security Mum – Australia (22)
- Cyber Security Mum – India (43)
- Family Safety (62)
- Identity Theft (111)
- Mobile – Consumer (2)
- Robert Siciliano (129)
Meet the Bloggers
- Anindita Mishra
- Brenda Moretto
- Consumer Threat Alerts
- Cyber Mum Australia
- Dave Klenske
- David Marcus
- Editor
- Francie Coulter
- Gary Davis
- James Galpin
- Jan Volzke
- Jim Walter
- John Dasher
- Kim Eichorn
- Latha Ramasamy
- Lianne Caetano
- Madhurima Pawar
- Parry Aftab
- Paula Greve
- Raj Samani
- Rizwan Husain
- Robert Siciliano
- Rusty Carter
- Shane Keats
- Simon Hunt
- Tad Heppner
- Todd Gebhart
- Tracy Mooney
- Yan Liang
Archive
- February 2012 (15)
- January 2012 (47)
- 2011 (482)
- 2010 (431)
- 2009 (395)
- 2008 (294)
- 2007 (416)
- 2006 (169)
Tags
#SecChat $1 million guarantee 12 Scams of Christmas access to live fraud resolution agents Acquisition Alex Thurber Android antivirus Apple botnet Channel Partners cloud security Compliance Consumer counter identity theft credit card fraud and protection credit fraud alerts credit monitoring credit monitoring and resolution critical infrastructure Cyber Security Mom cyberbullying Cybercrime cybermom data breach data center data center security Data Protection Dave DeWalt DLP Email & Web Security embedded encryption Endpoint Protection enterprise facebook fake anti-virus software Family Safety Friday Security Highlights global threat intelligence google government Hacktivism how to talk to kids how to talk to teens identity fraud identity fraud scams identity protection identity protection $1 million guarantee identity protection fraud identity protection surveillance identity surveillance identity theft identity theft expert identity theft fraud identity theft protection identity theft protection product Identity thieves and cybercriminals intel iphone kids online behavior lost wallet protection malware McAfee McAfee Channel McAfee Family Protection McAfee Identity Protection McAfee Initiative to Fight Cybercrime McAfee Labs McAfee security products Mid-Market Mobile mobile malware mobile security monitor credit and personal information Network Security online personal data protection online safety Operation Aurora PCI personal identity theft fraud personal information loss personal information protection phishing privacy proactive identity protection proactive identity surveillance Public Sector restore credit and personal identity Risk and Compliance scam scams scareware security smartphones social media social networking social networks spam Stuxnet twitter vulnerability Web 2.0 work with victim restore identity
Poor Money Mule Not So Poor
|
|
“Money mules” may be unsuspecting Americans who act as shipping managers, do the dirty work for the bad guy, and open bank accounts, too. Sometimes the mule may be foreign, traveling to the United States specifically to open bank accounts.
Mules often get hooked into a “small business” or employment that is a function of a criminal enterprise. The mules often respond to “help wanted” ads from online job placement sites. Shipping scams are a common tactic criminals use to employ mules to receive goods bought with stolen credit card numbers, who then ship to people who buy them in online auctions. The mules in this process are essentially facilitating selling hot goods and money laundering.
The mules are often baited into setting up bank accounts that the criminal controls. These bank accounts will be set up under the name of the mule, and are generally programmed to transfer money overseas in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid detection.
Most mules end up pulling money out of their pockets to front shipping costs with the promise of a big payoff. In the end, the mule is often bilked and ends up with an empty bank account.
But not this mule, who was arrested and sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for sending more than $860,000 to offshore online scammers. He was caught after a sheriff’s deputy became suspicious during a traffic stop. They found eleven cell phones, fake IDs, $53,200 in cash, and 76 Western Union receipts. This was no poor unsuspecting mule. This guy knew exactly what he was doing.
“He admitted accepting and cashing wire transfers from online shoppers for vehicles, boats, motorcycles and vehicle trailers, then sending that money to Romania or Spain in small amounts to make detection less likely. The items for sale did not actually exist.”
To protect yourself from becoming a victim of such scams consider subscribing to an identity theft protection service, which offers proactive identity surveillance, lost wallet protection, and alerts when suspicious activity is detected on your accounts. For additional tips, please visit http://www.counteridentitytheft.com
Robert
Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss money mules and job scams on Fox News. (Disclosures)
Robert Siciliano
Robert_Siciliano
McAfee
com (Robert_SicilianoMcAfeecom)
www.CounterIdentityTheft.com
|
|
Tags: bank fraud, identity protection, money laundering, stolen cards
Submit your own comments / message for this post