Money muling 101: Recognize and avoid this increasingly common scam

January 06, 2025

One of today’s most serious scams uses your bank account to aid criminals. Here’s a crash course on money mule scams, including what they are and how to recognize one.

Many of us have fallen for a scam before. Perhaps you clicked a phony email link or gave your information to the wrong person. If you’re lucky, the experience was resolved quickly with minimal personal cost. Unfortunately, one increasingly common scam can have steep legal and financial consequences. Becoming a money mule, unwittingly or not, could lead to legal charges, fines and fees, identity theft, damage to your finances and even possible incarceration.

So how can you avoid becoming the victim of money muling? Here’s what you need to know.

What is money muling?

Money mule scams are typically disguised as job opportunities. They promise a fast and easy way to earn money. You simply provide your bank account information and allow money to be transferred into your account. Then you send the money elsewhere for a commission. Sounds great, right?

In reality, these “jobs” use you and your bank account to move funds obtained from illegal activities, often cybercrimes like phishing emails and malware attacks, through the financial system. Anyone engaging in this activity is acting as a “money mule.” Criminals recruit money mules — unwitting or not — to help them transfer funds without being detected by law enforcement. They launder money from account to account, eventually using it to fund more crime, even human trafficking, drugs and terrorism.

You could also be recruited to be a money mule through an online romance scam or a fake announcement that you’d won a sweepstakes. No matter the method of ensnaring you, every money mule scam involves receiving money from someone you don’t really know and forwarding it on.

How being a money mule works

While this scam can take several forms, a typical money mule transaction could unfold like this:

You answer an ad for an ill-defined work-at-home job promising easy money.

You’re asked to provide bank account information so you can transfer funds for your employer, perhaps to a “supplier” or “client.”

Criminals deposit money into your bank account (or a new one you set up).

You withdraw the money, keeping a portion for your commission, and send it to another person via methods like:

Gift or prepaid debit cards
Cryptocurrency
Cashier’s check
Wire transfer

How money mules are recruited

As technology evolves, money mule scams take on a growing variety of forms, and the rise of artificial intelligence can make the come-on more convincing. Criminals may try to recruit you in any of the following ways:

Emails
Social media messages
Fraudulent job advertisements
Fake online posts
Instant messaging posts
Direct communication

How to recognize a money mule scam

Criminals go to great lengths to pass as legitimate, sometimes even copying the website of real companies and creating similar URLs. Be on the lookout for these warning signs:

The job claims you can earn a significant amount of money for minimal effort.
No matter what the specifics are, your bank account information is needed to move money.
You’re asked to work as a local representative for an overseas company. They may ask for an “agent” to help them avoid transaction charges or local taxes.
The job description lacks details.
No experience or education is required.
All work is done online.
Emails have awkward writing with poorly constructed sentences and bad grammar.
The email is from a web-based server like Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail.

The risks of falling for a money mule scam

Serving as a money mule is illegal, even if you aren’t aware that it’s a scam. You could technically be prosecuted for crimes like money laundering, mail fraud or wire fraud.

Since you’re sharing personal financial information, you also risk becoming the victim of identity theft. If you’re involved in laundering money obtained through fraud, you could be held liable for those losses, damaging your finances and credit.

Protect yourself

Always be skeptical of opportunities that seem too good to be true. Do your research about companies before accepting a job or giving out your personal information.