Proceeds of crime news 2 October 2008 Money laundering job advertisements on rise, says APACS

The Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) has warned that deceptive job adverts seducing people into breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations have proliferated in recent years. There have been more than 800 money mule adverts identified in the first two quarters of 2008, almost twice as many as were found for the whole of 2005, which predicts a 33 percent rise in the appearance of these adverts over 2007s figures.

These adverts may take the form of spam emails, postings in online job websites, or even adverts in national newspapers. Although the job titles advertised vary, from payment manager to overseas representative, the money mule schemes are similar in asking the owner of a UK bank account to receive payments and wire them overseas promptly, keeping a percentage as payment; these monies are likely to be the proceeds of crime.

APACS warns that the technological expertise behind these schemes is growing, and can make the job offers seem very convincing. Sandra Quinn, Director of Communications, warns that Criminals clearly arent giving up and are turning to new and more sophisticated methods of transferring fraudulent funds out of this country. [...] Anyone who has disclosed their bank account details or received funds into their account for what they think could be a money mule scam should contact their bank immediately.

Being duped into the scheme, or being innocent of the predicate offence, is no defence against breach of the Money Laundering Regulations or the Proceeds of Crime Act, under which the full value of money laundered in the scheme may be reclaimed from the mule.

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