Hannah’s hands are shaking as she closes her laptop. She can hardly believe there’s so much money in her bank account.
And getting hold of it was so easy! She’d been chatting with her online friend, Ash. They’d only “known” each other a few weeks but had become close; they both enjoyed hockey and watching films, and shared music tastes. Then Ash had asked for a favour. All Hannah had to do was provide her bank account details. Ash would transfer some money to her, then Hannah was to transfer it to another account. And she could keep £200 for herself!
Two months later, Hannah’s hands are shaking again. This time with fear. She is about to face a court appearance for the crime known as money muling. It could end in a 14-year prison sentence.
From the moment children can open a bank account (from 11 years old in the UK) they are at risk from fraud and scams.
According to Cifas, the UK’s fraud prevention service, 8,652 young people aged 18-24 were caught acting as money mules from January to September 2017. Almost 6,500 of these were aged 21 or under (some as young as 13) - an increase of 105 per cent on the previous year. Money-mule schemes are a rapidly growing problem.
Prime targets
A money mule is a person who transfers illegally-obtained money on someone else’s behalf. In most cases, the criminals contact people online and offer them cash to receive and transfer money using their bank account.
Organised criminal gangs prey on vulnerable groups of people who are likely to be in need of money. Students and young people are a prime target. Recruitment might come in the form of a too-good-to-be-true online job advert, promising easy money for little effort. Some fraudsters go as far as befriending the target on social media, using his or her profile to invent the perfect chat buddy, then turning threatening if the target refuses to assist.
And the danger isn’t restricted to the internet: criminals are targeting students in clubs and even in school playgrounds. In youth circles, the practice is sometimes known as “deets and squares” - the former meaning details and the latter referring to credit or debit cards.
The transferred money usually ends up abroad, funding a range of different crimes - fraud and scams, illegal drug smuggling, human trafficking, sexual exploitation and terrorism. Heavy burdens to weigh on a 13-year-old’s conscience, once realisation has dawned.
Some money mules don’t realise they’ve committed a crime; others may be suspicious but think they won’t get caught. They will. Banks have systems in place to detect suspicious money moving between accounts. Once detected, the bank notifies the authorities, so they can take action to catch the money mule and the criminals involved.
Once someone is caught acting as a money mule, their bank account will be closed and they will find it difficult to get future loans (including a student loan) or phone contracts. At worst, they could end up in prison for 14 years.
‘Serious issue’
Simon Dukes, Chief Executive at Cifas, says: “Our new figures show that money muling amongst young people is on the rise. This is a serious issue that not only has consequences for the money mule, but for society as a whole.”
“The direction of young lives is being altered with what many think is only transferring money or letting someone use their account, but it’s not as innocent as that,” warns Detective Constable Dawn Wood from the Metropolitan Police’s FALCON (Fraud and Linked Crime Online) unit.
“Bank accounts are private, and allowing your account to be used to transfer the proceeds of crime on behalf of a third party constitutes the criminal offence of money laundering. Do not be lured or persuaded to receive money into your account, even as a one-off. Young people need to know the law, the facts and the consequences so they can make an informed choice and be encouraged to ‘think beyond the attraction of easy cash’.”
Teachers have the opportunity and responsibility to empower students with the skills to protect themselves from money mule schemes and other types of fraud.
MoneySense - NatWest’s award-winning financial education programme - has created a free set of resources supporting teachers to educate students about money mule schemes, and the steps they can take to avoid them. Linked to the UK curriculum for personal and social education, the lessons hook students’ interest through a dramatised video case study, which tells the story of a young student who falls victim to a money mule scheme after seeing a job advert online. The film is complemented by engaging classroom activities that deepen students’ knowledge of how money mule schemes work and the red flags they should watch out for. There are fact and activity sheets for ages 8-12, 12-16 and 16-18, with age-appropriate messaging.
Kirsty Britz, Director of Sustainable Banking, NatWest says: “The earlier we can intervene and support teachers to provide up-to-date information to their students the better - so we can build a safer financial future for as many young people as possible and equip them to deal with the challenges ahead.”
Keeping children safe
Here are some top tips from MoneySense, to pass on to your students:
- Be wary of people you don’t know contacting you on social media.
- Don’t give your personal or bank account details to anyone unless you know and trust them.
- Be wary of offers of easy money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
- Research any company that makes you a job offer and make sure their contact details are genuine. Be wary of offers that:
- you haven’t applied for
- that involved all interactions and transactions being done online
- are written in poor English with spelling mistakes.
School curriculums are packed. But it’s worth shuffling schedules to devote an hour to raising students’ awareness of money mule schemes. Their future is at stake.
To download the resources or find out more, visit: https://natwest.mymoneysense.com/Moneymules
