Criminals are targeting students with fake job opportunities online – Students urged to take care following rise in money muling cases

• Herders favouring social media and online platforms to target at speed 

• ‘Muling shouldn’t be normalised’, says fraud intelligence director 

• Six top tips to help students spot muling recruitment attempts 

The UK’s largest not-for-profit fraud prevention service, Cifas, has provided key advice to students to help them avoid malicious offers to make ‘easy money’ this academic year following an 11% increase in money mule cases in the first half of 2024. 

Over 19,000 muling reports were filed to the Cifas National Fraud Database (NFD) during January-June 2024 – over 2,000 reports more than were made in comparison to the same timeframe last year. 

Cifas members and law enforcement agencies expect that young people, particularly students, will remain an attractive target for ‘herders’ who use social media and online platforms with the lure of making ‘quick cash’. 

Cifas Intelligence suggests the herders are using new tactics to potentially recruit young people – creating and posting fake adverts online disguised as job opportunities and asking students to provide bank details so funds can be transferred between accounts. 

Stephen Dalton, Director of Intelligence at Cifas, said: ‘Herders will often set-up fake profiles to infiltrate social media groups to target victims and depict a luxury lifestyle online to try and sell the idea that muling is low-risk and offers high reward. 

‘However, it is money laundering and plays a significant role in funding wider organised crime such as drug dealing, terrorism, and human trafficking. Muling has never been a harmless ‘side hustle’ or an ‘easy way’ to make money and should not be a ‘normalised’ crime.’ 

Cifas has teamed up with UK Finance to launch the ‘Don’t Be Fooled’ campaign providing information and support about money muling. 

Sarah Sinden, Don’t Be Fooled spokesperson, said: ‘Criminals try to entice students with offers of quick cash with no strings attached, so it’s important to never engage with fake adverts or click on links to job offers that seem too good to be true. 

‘Exploiting young people in this way is dreadful. The criminals are coercing them into breaking the law, and that can harm their future. Being a money mule can have long-term consequences for students, like losing their place at university, finding it difficult to access credit or loans, and having their bank account closed. 

‘Our Don’t Be Fooled campaign aims to teach young people and students about the dangers posed by this type of criminal activity, and how to keep their bank accounts safe.’ 

Six tips to help students avoid becoming a money mule 

1. Don’t give your bank account details to anyone unless you know and trust them. 

2. Be wary of job offers where all interactions and transactions will be done online. 

3. Be cautious of unsolicited offers of easy money. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

4. Research any company that makes you a job offer and make sure their contact details are genuine. 

5. Be wary of job offers from overseas. It will make it harder for you to find out if they are legitimate. 

6. Be wary of job ads that are written in poor English with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. 

Cifas’ new APP Victim Check provides banks with victim data to identify high risk payments that need to be paused and investigated (i.e. possible muling activity) – helping to reduce fraud and protect customers from further losses. 

Additionally, its Beneficiary Checks solution provides fraud teams with a secure communication channel to connect and verify concerns around possible fraudulent payment transactions such as muling, Authorised Push Payment fraud, or first party fraud. To find out more about either solution, visit here.  

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

For more information, please contact Hayley Paterson, Cifas Press and PR Manager, on 020 4551 7072 or press@cifas.org.uk. 

About Cifas 

Cifas is the largest not-for-profit fraud prevention service in the UK. It has more than 750 members who represent various industries including banking, retail, insurance, and telecoms. Cifas protects businesses and individuals from fraud through effective and secure data and intelligence sharing between the private, public and third sectors. Additionally, the independent organisation offers a range of products and services to help businesses prevent fraud and delivers specialist training for counter-fraud professionals through its Cifas Fraud and Cyber Academy. 

Cifas’ data is included in the Office of National Statistics England and Wales Crime Statistics of police recorded crime and it works alongside law enforcement agencies in tackling fraud. In 2023, Cifas members prevented more than £1.8bn of fraud losses. 

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Fraudscape 

Fraudscape is Cifas’ annual report which combines data from its National Fraud Database (NFD) and Insider Threat Database (ITD), alongside intelligence provided by Cifas members, partners, and law enforcement. 

Don’t Be Fooled 

Don’t Be Fooled is a collaboration between UK Finance and Cifas. It aims to inform students and young people about the risks of giving out their bank details and deter them from becoming money mules. You can see more information on the Don’t Be Fooled website here. 

Contact us at press@cifas.org.uk