Money laundering via your savings account

02 March 2006

University students and others tempted to respond to job ads offering easy money working from home should beware – they may be inadvertently becoming money mules, helping to launder the proceeds of internet crime.

Leanne Vale, Fraud Prevention Manager with the Credit Union Industry Association (CUIA), said several people had fallen victim to international criminals seeking to launder money they have stolen via internet scams through the personal financial accounts of students and others seeking casual work.

Ms Vale said people as young as 16 have been approached to launder money obtained via phishing – in which scammers secure the banking details of consumers by directing them to a false link.

“International criminals are offering people easy money to work from home every day,” Ms Vale said. “These job advertisements sound innocent enough…asking people to become transfer managers or agents earning sometimes many hundreds of dollars per day working from home with a computer.

“It is when this work involves the depositing of money into your account that you need to be beware. Experience has shown us money is transferred electronically into the accounts of these ‘employees’ who are then instructed to send the money on to an overseas location.”

Ms Vale said anyone considering participation in such schemes needs to be aware that they are potentially breaking the law, and that strong penalties apply.

“Those participating in schemes such as these are assisting international criminals to steal millions of dollars from the accounts of average Australians each year,” she said.

Ms Vale said the CUIA is working with the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce on behalf of credit unions across Australia to fight financial fraud, which costs millions of dollars in Australia each year.

“No-one is immune from the risk of internet scams and everyone has a role to play in beating it,” she said. “The best security is to delete it, destroy it or hang up.

“Your credit union will never ask for your password, pin number or personal banking details in an email, an on-line message or in an unsolicited phone call, so don’t hand them over to anybody,” she said.

“This commitment, combined with the credit union program to improving financial literacy, helps ensure that members are aware of the risks of fraud and how to protect themselves.”

The CUIA and its members are participating in the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce’s Scamwatch Campaign, which is a national month-long campaign designed to raise community-awareness about scams and fraud prevention.