A money mule is a person who transfers money acquired illegally in person, through a courier service, or electronically on behalf of others and receives a fee in return. Money mules are not directly involved with the crimes, but they are accomplices as they launder the proceeds of such crimes. On the other hand, money mules help criminal syndicates remain anonymous while moving funds worldwide.
How to Fight Money Laundering?
For individuals, never give your bank account to your bank assistant. Secure your bank cards. Do not disclose your online banking login details. Be very cautious of unsolicited emails or offers made over social media or in person, promising easy money.
Who Are The Most Targeted Individuals?
Criminals target young people generally because young people may be more unconscious. They pick them on social media and attracting them with easy money. According to studies, most money mules are under age 21. Besides students, many people are targeting criminals. For example;
- Foreigners in the country
- Migrants
- Unemployed person
- Job seekers
The most likely targets are people under 35 years old. Recently, criminal groups have started recruiting younger generations from 12 to 21 years old.
"Don't forget: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
What Should Banks Do To Prevent Money Mules?
Money mule accounts are often invisible, so it may be difficult to spot these crimes. Banks should do something in the first place, at opening the new accounts. They need to know their customers. They can comply with Know Your Customer procedures to do these things. Banks can also scan their customer with the Customer Due Diligence applications, determine their risks, and take measures according to these risks.
It is so important to know the customer first. But there is also have trouble at the other stages. So knowing the customer is not enough to determine the customer's risk. They need to scan their transactions. For instance, when suspicious activities such as sudden and large transfers to an account occur, banks should generate alerts that allow them to be quickly identified. Banks can perform those screening operations with AML Transaction Monitoring . Also, banks should do this control periodically to determine the new risks.
Sanction Scanner's Solution to Prevent Money Mule
As we told before, financial institutions like banks should know their customers. When opening a new account, the customer must be identified, and the risks have to be known in advance. Institutions can do these via Know Your Customer procedures. In addition, financial institutions can scan the customer, determine their risks, and take measures according to these risks with Customer Due Diligence applications.
Businesses can be aware of their local and global AML obligations with Sanction Scanner Solutions. Companies can define customer risk levels with our AML screening service while opening a customer account for an accurate risk assessment. With AML Name Screening Software , you can perform CDD and KYC operations by the obligations. Simultaneously, the Sanction Scanner can provide a Transaction Monitoring service to your company to detect the transactions made by money mules accounts. With AML Transaction Monitoring Software , financial institutions can automatically detect high-risk and suspicious activities. With these methods, businesses can protect themselves from potential financial crimes and legal penalties.
