Antigua: Financial institutions warned about ‘money mule scams’

By: Latrishka Thomas
Source: Loop
Financial institutions have been put on the alert to look out for an increase in fraudulent activity that has been characterised as money mule scams.

People are being used to transfer illegally acquired money between different accounts on behalf of or at the direction of someone else.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), throughout the region, criminals are said to be defrauding individuals through offers for jobs, grants and prizes. They may even want to start a romantic online relationship with you and offer to send you money, which you would then have to send to someone else.

People are being lured into laundering cash, some of them without even knowing it.

The money mule is often recruited by an imposter who makes an offer of a job position or proposes a romantic relationship as a way to send money to you.

Scammers will often ask individuals to make a payment in order to receive a prize or other reward. But the rewards never materialise.

The victims are instructed to make payments through bank accounts or money transfer services to send cash to the fraudster or his agent.

The victims are essentially allowing their bank accounts to become a conduit for the proceeds of organised crime.

The ONDCP said in a press statement that some individuals are motivated by trust, and may be unaware that they are being used in a criminal network, but others are motivated by financial gain and wilfully take part in the criminal scheme.

Banks and money service businesses have therefore been asked to pay particular attention to transfers intended for jurisdictions with weak anti-money laundering regimes that have a reputation for fraudulent activity.

They are asked to closely monitor their clients’ transactions for unusual wire transfer activity that is inconsistent with their profile – clients who receive and withdraw/transfer funds in quick succession and clients who fail to provide adequate explanations for the source of funds or purpose of transactions.

ONDCP said institutions are also required to implement appropriate transaction monitoring measures to identify transactions of this nature to prevent clients from becoming the victims of fraud and to deter clients from aiding fraudulent activity.

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