Che cos’è il “money muling” e come contrastarlo

In recent years, money muling has emerged as a growing threat worldwide. In 2023 alone, criminals laundered $3.1 trillion through the global financial system and between 2% and 5% of global GDP is estimated to be laundered every year. Criminals have also started recruiting teenagers, with some money mules as young as 12 years old.

To understand what money muling is and how to combat it, we spoke with Valerija Jerenkevič, Fraud Manager at ConnectPay – a licensed payment provider whose prevenzione delle frodi infrastructure monitors transactions for exactly these patterns across thousands of accounts.

What is money muling?

Money muling is a form of money laundering in which a person – a money mule – receives funds acquired illegally by a criminal and transfers them to a third party. This can be done in person, via courier, or – most commonly – electronically. In exchange for their services, money mules typically receive a small cut of the money transferred.

What is a money mule, exactly? A money mule is an intermediary who moves illegally obtained funds on behalf of criminals, obscuring the origin of the money in the process. Over 90% of money mule transactions are linked to cybercrime – meaning the funds being moved typically originate from scams, fraud, ransomware attacks, or other digital criminal activity.

Money muling is a crime in virtually every jurisdiction, even when the mule is unaware that the funds they are handling are of criminal origin. In the eyes of the law, receiving, holding, or transferring money procured by criminal means makes a person an accomplice – regardless of their intent or knowledge.

Types of money mules

Not all money mules are the same. There are three broadly recognised categories:

Unwitting mules are victims who genuinely believe they are acting legitimately – taking on what appears to be a straightforward job or accepting money from someone they trust. They have no idea the funds are connected to criminal activity until law enforcement becomes involved.

Complicit mules have some awareness that what they are doing is questionable but choose to participate anyway – typically because the financial reward seems worth the risk. They may not know the full extent of the criminal operation but understand that the arrangement is not legitimate.

Knowing mules are fully aware of their role in money laundering and participate deliberately for financial gain.

The legal consequences are serious across all three categories. Even unwitting participation in a money mule scam can result in criminal prosecution, bank account closure, inclusion in fraud databases, and in serious cases, imprisonment.

How money mule scams work

Understanding how money mule recruitment works is the first step to avoiding it. As Valerija Jerenkevič, Fraud Manager at ConnectPay, explains:

“Apart from encountering fraudsters in person on the street, people get recruited as money mules online through seemingly legitimate job offers. For instance, a recruiter may pose as a representative of an overseas company seeking ‘local representatives’ or ‘money transfer agents’ in order, say, to avoid excessive taxation. These ads usually have no set educational or experience requirements, and promise instant cash. They’re posted in online job forums, delivered as pop-ups, and sent via social media platforms – especially Facebook – email, and messaging apps.”

Common money mule scam formats include:

Fake job offers – criminals advertise roles such as “payment processor,” “financial agent,” or “local representative” for an overseas company. The job involves receiving money into a personal bank account and forwarding it – minus a commission – to another account. There is no real job. The money is stolen.

Romance scams – criminals build an online relationship with a victim over weeks or months, then ask them to receive and forward money as a favour. By the time the victim realises what has happened, they may already have transferred significant sums and become legally implicated.

Social media recruitment – mule herders use social media to befriend potential mules, often targeting young people with promises of easy money for minimal effort. The request to use their bank account for transfers comes once trust has been established.

Lottery and prize scams – victims are told they have won a prize and asked to pay a “processing fee” or receive funds temporarily before forwarding them on.

In all cases, criminals create urgency to pressure their targets into acting quickly – before they have time to reflect or seek advice.

Who is targeted in money mule recruitment?

Virtually anyone can be recruited as a money mule, regardless of age, education, or background. Retired people looking for supplementary income, students seeking a side job, young people attracted by easy money – all are targets. Six out of ten money mules are under 30 years old, reflecting the disproportionate targeting of younger demographics through social media and online platforms.

However, Valerija is clear that no demographic is immune:

“From retired people looking for an extra source of income to cover their growing medical bills, to students in search of a side gig to get themselves through school – anyone can fall for the money mule scam, as it seems to offer easy money. Even teenagers as young as 12 are being increasingly targeted.”

The common thread is not demographic but circumstantial: financial pressure, a desire for quick income, or misplaced trust in an online contact.

Red flags for money mule scams

Knowing the warning signs is the most effective protection against being recruited. The red flags for money mule activity include:

• Offers of easy money for receiving and forwarding payments – legitimate employers do not pay people to transfer money through their personal bank accounts
• No clearly defined job responsibilities – vague role descriptions with no requirements or qualifications
• No formal contract or employment documentation – money mule scam offers typically avoid creating any paper trail
• Urgency – pressure to act immediately, before the victim has time to think or seek advice
• Requests to keep the arrangement private – any legitimate employer has no reason to ask employees to conceal their work
• Unexpected money arriving in your account – receiving funds from unknown sources is a serious red flag, even if you did not actively seek out the arrangement
• Claims that using your bank account avoids “taxation” – this framing is used to make illegal fund movement sound like a legitimate business arrangement

As Valerija advises: “The main thing is to always be suspicious of any offer that entails letting people you don’t know use your bank account. You and you alone are responsible for it. In the eyes of the law, receiving, holding, or transferring money procured by criminal means makes you an accomplice. If you encounter such offers, don’t reply and don’t open any associated links online. Instead, report the incident to the police.”

What is money mule behaviour – and how do banks detect it?

Money mule behaviour follows recognisable patterns that financial institutions and payment providers are trained to identify. Common indicators include:

• Rapid movement of funds – money received and immediately transferred out, with little or no retention in the account
• Multiple small transfers to different recipients in short succession
• Transactions with no apparent business or personal rationale
• Account activity inconsistent with the account holder’s profile
• Funds received from multiple unknown senders

How do banks detect money mules?

Banks and payment service providers use a combination of automated transaction monitoring and human review to identify money mule activity. AML (Anti-Money Laundering) systems flag unusual transaction patterns – rapid movement of funds, inconsistent account behaviour, and connections to known risk indicators. KYC (Know Your Customer) verification at onboarding establishes a baseline for expected account behaviour, making deviations easier to detect. Suspicious activity is reported to financial intelligence units in accordance with legal obligations.

When money mule activity is identified, banks can freeze the account, report the activity to law enforcement, close the account, and add the account holder to fraud databases that affect their ability to open accounts in future. Money mules may also be held liable for repaying lost funds to victims.

The legal consequences of money muling

Money muling is a serious criminal offence. The legal consequences for those found to have participated – whether knowingly or not – can be severe:

• Criminal record – conviction for money laundering results in a permanent criminal record
• Imprisonment – money muling is punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment in some jurisdictions
• Fines – significant financial penalties on top of any imprisonment
• Account closure and blacklisting – financial institutions will close accounts and may share information with other banks and fraud databases
• Liability for victim losses – mules may be required to repay funds that have been lost by victims of the underlying crime

It is important to emphasise that lack of knowledge of the criminal origin of funds is not a defence in most jurisdictions. Legal responsibility follows the account, not the intent. This is why public awareness of what money muling is – and how money mule recruitment works – is essential.

What money muling means for financial institutions and platforms

For banks, payment providers, and any platform that handles money flows, money muling is a significant operational and regulatory risk. Platforms that fail to detect and prevent money mule activity can face regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and legal liability.

ConnectPay’s conformità integrata infrastructure is designed to address this risk directly – with automated AML transaction monitoring, KYC verification at onboarding, sanctions screening, and ongoing due diligence that identifies suspicious patterns before they become a compliance problem. By embedding these controls at the infrastructure level, ConnectPay helps platforms maintain a clean money flow and meet their regulatory obligations without building a compliance function from scratch.

FAQs: Money muling