Money Transfer Scams - What You Should Know (also called money laundering, mule recruitment, employment scams, home business scams) So you have been offered a "job" to act as an agent for money transfer. All you need to do is receive money to your bank account, keep 7% to 15% of the received amount, and transfer the balance to an overseas bank account. Sounds like easy cash? Well, what you don't know is that you are being asked to launder money out of the country for crime syndicates and even terrorists. You could be imprisoned for up to 25 years for the illegal act of money laundering!

What is money laundering?

Money laundering is the act of moving money around to conceal the origin and ownership of illegally-obtained cash so that it appears to have been obtained from a legitimate source.

How is it done?

Proceeds of crimes and money destined to be employed in illegal and terrorist activities are used in absolutely legal purchase transactions or transferred via innocent parties to cover the trail of the dirty money.

Example 1: Money obtained through ATM robberies is used to purchase a property. On selling the property, the dirty money is "washed" (i.e. it is no longer directly linked to the crime) and could be used more freely by the criminals.

Example 2: Money obtained through phishing scams and bank fraud are transferred to a person unrelated to the crimes (i.e. you!) and subsequently remitted out of the country.

Example 3: Drug money are put into poker machines at casinos and cashed out as clean money.

Example 4: Funding for terrorists are used to purchase a legitimate business which in turn pays salaries to "employees" who are really terrorists.

Money Transfer Scam

Money laundering through recruited "money transfer agents" is becoming more and more popular with crime syndicates due to the ease of Internet communication.

These scammers advertise on popular employment websites, in chat rooms and by spam emails, enticing individuals to become money transfer agents.

If an unsuspecting job seeker responds to a fraudulent advertisement, the scammer will usually write back immediately, saying that the seeker is the perfect candidate and is offered the job. The scammer will then request for the victim's bank account number to effect the money transfer.

Millions of spam emails with trojan virus secretly attached are also sent to random email addresses. By capturing the victim's keystrokes, the scammers hope to obtain online banking access that they can use to help launder money.

How does these ads look like?

What happens to people who help launder money knowingly or unknowingly?

Most of the time, the money being transferred is stolen from other bank customers via phishing scams or other bank fraud. Therefore, anyone who assists in the transfer of these dirty money is in fact committing theft.

Newsflash: Fraud Squad charge 13 people over internet bank fraud

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is Australia's anti-money laundering regulator and specialist financial intelligence unit.

In 2005-06, AUSTRAC received 24,801 suspicious transaction reports, a 44% increase over last period, from financial institutions and other money handlers.

The most common suspected activity was “structuring”, where people make a series of cash deposits or withdrawls just below $10,000, which is the trigger amount for automatically lodging a significant cash transaction report with AUSTRAC. This was followed by transferring money between Australia and an “interesting country” and making unusually large cash transactions. Incredibly, more than 100 reports sent to AUSTRAC involved money being sent as an initial fee for Nigerian scams – it seems some people never learn.

A Real Story

Source: Money transfer schemes: Rob's story

Who are most susceptible to these scams?

Anyone who are not aware of these scams!

What you should and shouldn't do

• You should be skeptical about offers of easy money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
• You should not respond to job offers that require you to accept and transfer money via your bank account.
• You should report any scam or potential scam to the authorities so that they can be investigated and shut down before more people fall victim.
• If you have been unknowingly involved in a money laundering scam, report to the police immediately to clear your name before it is too late.
• You should not open spam mails out of curiosity. Some spam emails will automatically install spyware or trojan virus on your computer without your knowledge as soon as you open the email.
• You should spread the word. Inform and educate your friends and families about these scams so that they will not fall victim. Refer them to www.tradersnetwork.org/scamalerts