View our infographic and continue reading below!
Once scammers get a victim’s money, they are far from done. They often need to move the money – and they are not going to do it themselves.
That is where they employ the help of others – some knowingly, but many not: “money mules”. A “money mule” is someone who transfers illegally acquired money on behalf of a criminal – whether unknowingly or willingly. Mules are recruited by scammers, so they hold and move money on their behalf.
Scammers do this so that they create layers between themselves and the scammed money to make it difficult for them to be traced. The most common money mule solicitations are disguised as “work-from-home” opportunities. The adverts offer the opportunity to make ‘easy money’, ‘free money’, ‘easy cash schemes’, or ‘no risk money’. These advertisements are often appealing to young persons who are interested in the convenience and flexibility of these types of jobs, or persons who are down on their luck and looking for a job. Because there are companies that legitimately offer opportunities to work from home, users may not recognise malicious offers. Criminals often try to make the offer seem as legitimate as possible and may use the following approaches:
- Carefully crafting the wording so that an email does not appear to be spam and is not caught by spam filters.
- Linking to fake (but professionally designed) websites that appear to belong to recognised companies or that promote a company that does not even exist.
- Posting some of these jobs on legitimate websites, including websites specifically for job seekers.
We encourage you to print for this Infographic for your own use as well as to place as a poster at your place of work. As always we thank the e-Skills Malta Foundation for the Infographic and their contribution to the ĠEMMA tips.
If you believe that you have uncovered a scam or you were the target victim of one, ĠEMMA advises you to report this. Do not let the scammer get away with it. Remember that there are vulnerable people who may not have the knowledge you have and may be at a high risk of being scammed unless the scam is stopped.
Contact the Malta Police Force’s Cyber Crime Unit as follows:
Online: [email protected]
Telephone: +356 2294 2231/2.
In person: Call or visit any Police District station and lodge a report. The District Police Officer will request the assistance of a member from the Cyber Crime Unit as required