Police find ordinary people duped into being money launderers for crime syndicates

Stay-at-home mums, students and retirees are being duped into becoming “money mules” to launder money for overseas crime syndicates.

Exclusive: Stay-at-home mums, students and retirees in Australia are unwittingly becoming “money mules” for overseas crime groups, getting paid commissions for using their private bank accounts to move huge sums of dirty money.

European police agency Europol working with the Australian Federal Police are warning of a spike in the number of ordinary citizens here responding to work-from-home advertisements to become local representatives of fake mostly overseas companies.

The companies are fronts for money laundering, fraud and drug syndicates and are asking people to accounts process or handle invoices as an Australian division of the firm but effectively they join that crime syndicate to wash money.

Australian Federal Police Detective Sergeant Kris Wilson in the AFP’s Cybercrime Operations war room. Picture: AFP

Australian bank accounts, like passports, are highly prized by criminals as they are not easy to obtain and have a high reputation in the financial world and draw less attention from authorities outside of Australia.

NSW Detectives have charged six men with a total of 49 offences as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged sophisticated cyber scams and money laundering of over $6 million. Pictures: NSW Police

According to an Australian Federal Police probe, the spike in advertisements comes as a consequence of COVID-19 and the number of people out of work, looking to supplement income and or working from home.

Their recruitment has been as crude as responding to posters on telegraph poles advertising for work-from-home opportunities and social media ads through to recruitment job agency companies being duped into advertising for positions on behalf of syndicates.

Europol have identified money mules and herders in countries including Australia and have posted warnings. Picture: Europol

Stay-at-home mums, students and retirees in Australia are unwittingly becoming “money mules” for overseas crime group. Picture: Supplied

The AFP and State police have between September and November this year, when nationally many were in COVID-19 lockdown, alone identified more than 200 people duped into becoming money mules, illegally allowing their bank accounts to shift $9 million.

Most of the mules have been in Sydney and Melbourne but AFP Acting Superintendent Tom Walker said all states were being targeted and affected by the sham job “opportunities”.

Most of the money stems from online fraud syndicates and stolen moneys but also from drug money. Deposits so far detected range from $1000 to $50,000 with the mules paid a commission for each deposit shifted, of between 4-10 per cent. Tracking the money has been difficult as they are routed through various accounts, onshore and offshore.

NSW Police including the State Crime Command’s Cybercrime Squad, established Strike Force Cocci to investigate a criminal syndicate involved in fraudulent activities across the country, including business email compromises, romance scams and laundering of funds obtained. Pictures: NSW Police

He said some people were also being duped into the role via romance scams, “helping” move money overseas, job offers or becoming an Australian “local representative for a phony firm.

“You could delve into each typology but basically if it looks too good to be true it probably is,” Supt Walker, who works in the AFP cyber crime division, said.

Inside the AFP’s Sydney Cybercrime Operations room. Picture: AFP

“For a lot of people especially during COVID-19, they may have lost their jobs, transitioning to work-from-home or trying to make a little bit more to make ends meet, we are seeing a definitive trend and rise. They are putting themselves at risk.”

He said online scams were one thing but this was a case of now laundering from that scam, that added a whole new dimension. He added the AFP was working closely with Europol to identify “herders” recruiting the mules.