Money mule scam has put bankers on alert. Banks have decided to sensitise their customers against phishing and money mules.
At a meeting held at the Indian Banks' Association on Wednesday, leading banks, including ICICI and HDFC, have decided to send communications to customers in this regard.
"Banks will post advisories on their websites. It is very important as gullible people are being duped. An individual acting as a money mule is breaching the law unknowingly and could be booked for money laundering," said a banker.
HDFC Bank had noticed instances of overseas fraudsters posing as global payment companies luring gullible people into joining them as "money transfer agents" and using their bank accounts to route ill-gotten money, including through phishing.
The bank got one of its customers, who was a victim of phishing, to file a police complaint and also helped the police nab another accountholder who was recruited as a money mule by some overseas fraudster.
Some other private sector banks have also detected that some of their accountholders were acting as money mules for inward and outward transfers of fraudulently obtained money.
The bank accounts of money mules are used to transfer funds via phishing, an internet-based fraud that steals information like account numbers and net-banking passwords to siphon off money from bank accounts.
The accountholders, hired as money transfer agents, unknowingly work as money mules. They regularly receive funds in their accounts and get instructions on forwarding the money minus their commission to some accounts in foreign countries, which are closed after short periods.
These accountholders give in to the lure of making quick bucks and act as money mules, unaware of the criminality involved in this.
"Customers should also be vigilant. They should delete spam mails and not accept offers from any unknown company, particularly if it is a global one. They should protect their details like they do to their house keys," said a senior banker.
Do's & Don'ts
- Delete spam mails
- Don't accept luring offers on the Internet
- Don't share bank details in the cyber world
- Inform one's bank of any suspicious emails
