Identity Theft News

FDIC warns banks of money transfer 'mules' duped by cybercriminals

Monday, November 2, 2009

In a new warning to banks about illicit electronic fund transfers, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said last week that online bank account theft is rising using "money mules," unwitting job-seekers who are duped by cyber crooks into wiring funds from hacked bank accounts.

As part of a complex scam to steal money from online bank accounts, criminal hackers or cyber gangs steal account information using phishing scams and banking Trojans - viruses that infiltrate victim computers.

The cyber crooks wire money from hacked accounts to mules they have hired to receive the funds in new accounts. The mules, duped into working for the scheme with fraudulent "work-at-home" jobs advertised online, establish online accounts to receive stolen funds and wire the funds back to another account for collection, minus a commission of 8 percent to 10 percent, according to the FDIC warning.

"Money mule activity is essentially electronic money laundering addressed by the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Regulations," the FDIC said in a letter to bank executives.

Victims of cyber theft from online bank accounts include individuals and businesses who have fallen prey to a phishing scam that may employ spam email to dupe recipients into entering their account information on a phishing website.ADNFCR-1765-ID-19438569-ADNFCR

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