• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Log In
  • Member Registeration
  • Account
  • Our Services
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Top Nav Social Icons

FindBiometrics

FindBiometrics

Global Identity Management

  • Biometrics
    • What are Biometrics?
    • FAQ
    • Biometric Associations
    • Companies
    • Premier Partners
  • News
    • Featured Articles
    • Interviews
    • Thought Leadership
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • Year in Review
  • Applications
    • Biometric Security
    • Border Control and Airport Biometrics
    • Consumer and Residential Biometrics
    • Financial Biometrics
    • Fingerprint & Biometric Locks
    • Healthcare Biometrics
    • Justice and Law Enforcement Biometrics
    • Logical Access Control Biometrics
    • Mobile Biometrics
    • Other Biometric Applications
    • Physical Access Control Biometrics
    • Biometric Time and Attendance
  • Solutions
    • Behavioral Biometrics
    • Biometric Sensors and Detectors
    • Facial Recognition
    • Biometric Fingerprint Readers
    • Hand Readers & Finger Scanners
    • Iris Recognition
    • Biometric Middleware and Software
    • Multimodal Biometrics
    • Physiological Biometrics
    • Smart Cards
    • Vein Recognition
    • Voice and Speech Recognition
  • Stocks
  • Events
  • Companies
  • Podcasts

Buguroo Explains How Fraudsters Recruit People for Mule Accounts

February 28, 2020

Buguroo Explains How Fraudsters Recruit People for Mule Accounts

Buguroo has written a brief explainer to teach the general public about mule accounts. A mule account is a real bank account that a criminal uses to launder money, transferring illicit funds into the account and then out again to make the money clean and untraceable when it emerges on the other side.

In some cases, cybercriminals will create their own mule accounts using fake or stolen credentials. Those accounts are a serious problem for banks (and any victims of identity theft), but shouldn’t have as much fallout for legitimate customers who protect their personal information.

The same is not true for customers who willingly allow their bank accounts to be used as mule accounts. According to buguroo, cybercriminals will often try to recruit people for their operation, using social engineering to lure people with hashtags like #PayPalFlip, #EasyMoney, and #legitmoneyflips. Criminals typically go after young people (roughly a third of all mule accounts belonged to people under the age of 21), largely because young people are more likely to be short on cash and are easier to tempt with the promise of a quick payday.

Young people are also not quite as savvy, and may not be aware of the potential consequences of their actions. Someone who enters into a mule arrangement will allow a third party to move funds through their own personal back account, usually in exchange for a share of the profit. The mule usually won’t know where the money comes from or what it is being used for, and will regard it as a simple way to make some extra income.

However, acting as a money mule still makes them complicit in illegal activity, and they may shoulder much of the blame if the authorities are unable to track down the criminals behind the scheme. In addition to potential jail time (up to 14 years in the UK), the mule could face severe financial side effects. They may be unable to open a bank account for years following the incident, and may have difficulty getting a credit card or obtaining a mortgage in the future.

Buguroo also noted that criminals will often target elderly customers with a more stable financial history, whose activity is less likely to draw the attention of the bank.

To combat the problem, buguroo advises banks to invest in onboarding and behavioral biometrics. Better onboarding tech will allow banks to spot a fraudulent account as it is being opened, while behavioral biometrics can identify suspicious activity in an existing account.

The mule account explainer is the latest in a series of buguroo posts that highlight various cyber threats. The company has previously warned consumers about first and second party fraud, as well as a banking Trojan in Brazil and a trio of malicious apps available through Google Play.

 –

February 28, 2020 – by Eric Weiss

Related News

  • BioCatch Survey Finds Financial Institutions Worried About Account Takeover AttacksBioCatch Survey Finds Financial Institutions Worried About Account Takeover Attacks
  • BioCatch Details Business Benefits of Behavioral BiometricsBioCatch Details Business Benefits of Behavioral Biometrics
  • BioCatch Predicts Financial Institutions Will Crack Down on Mule Accounts in 2021BioCatch Predicts Financial Institutions Will Crack Down on Mule Accounts in 2021
  • BioCatch Explains How Behavioral Biometrics Generates ROI for Financial InstitutionsBioCatch Explains How Behavioral Biometrics Generates ROI for Financial Institutions
  • Akbank Deploys Featurespace’s Behavioral Biometrics TechnologyAkbank Deploys Featurespace’s Behavioral Biometrics Technology
  • NICE Actimize Adds Buguroo to X-Sight MarketplaceNICE Actimize Adds Buguroo to X-Sight Marketplace

Filed Under: News Tagged With: anti-fraud, behavioral biometrics, biometric onboarding, Buguroo, corporate blogs, financial services, financial services biometrics, financial services fraud, money laundering, money laundering mules

Primary Sidebar

Identity is Shaping Air Travel – Time to Invest

Sponsored Links

facetec logo

FaceTec’s patented, industry-leading 3D Face Authentication software anchors digital identity, creating a chain of trust from user onboarding to ongoing authentication on all modern smart devices and webcams. FaceTec’s 3D FaceMaps™ make trusted, remote identity verification finally possible. As the only technology backed by a persistent spoof bounty program and NIST/iBeta Certified Liveness Detection, FaceTec is the global standard for Liveness and 3D Face Matching with millions of users on six continents in financial services, border security, transportation, blockchain, e-voting, social networks, online dating and more. www.facetec.com

TECH5 logo

TECH5 is an international technology company founded by experts from the biometrics industry, which focuses on developing disruptive biometric and digital ID solutions through the application of AI and Machine Learning technologies.

TECH5 target markets include both Government and Private sectors with products powering Civil ID, Digital ID, as well as authentication solutions that deliver identity assurance for various use cases. 

Learn more: www.tech5.ai

Mobile ID World Logo

Mobile ID World is here to bring you the latest in mobile authentication solutions and application providers. Our company is dedicated to providing users with the best content and cutting edge information on technology, news, and mobile solutions for your mobile identity management needs.

HID logo

HID powers the trusted identities of the world’s people, places and things. Our trusted identity solutions give people convenient and secure access to physical and digital places and connect things that can be identified, verified and tracked digitally. Millions of people use HID products to navigate their everyday lives, and billions of things are connected through HID technology. https://www.hidglobal.com/

Recent Posts

  • Air Travel: Here is How Modular Biometrics and Identity Verification Can Elevate the Passenger Journey
  • Acuity Market Intelligence and FindBiometrics Present: The Biometric Digital Identity Prism
  • Is Age Verification the Next Big Biometric Market?
  • Missouri Launches Mobile ID with Remote Driver’s License Renewal Feature
  • Kenya’s Leadership Lays Out Digital ID Roadmap

Biometric Associations

IBIA and fido

Tweets

Footer

  • About Us
  • Company Directory
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Archives
  • CCPA: Do not sell my personal info.

Follow Us

Copyright © 2023 FindBiometrics