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WARNING: International scammers that operate beyond the reach of U.S. Law are using ordinary citizens to help them funnel illegal money to their accounts. You can easily be duped into taking part in this scheme if you are not careful.

So how does it work?

Here’s how, in story format:

Mr. Scammer, currently residing in the Czech Republic, wants to be rich, so he decides to rob a bank located in the United States. He chooses a bank, which we’ll call “U.S. Bank,” because it has some very wealthy customers and its security for online transactions doesn’t seem too strict. Starting with a list of bank customers, Mr. Scammer tries different nefarious means of guessing usernames and passwords. Because he’s casting such a wide net over a lot of customers, he increases the odds that he’ll get lucky. And indeed, after several weeks, he is finally rewarded with a welcome screen to a corporate bank account. Searching through the account, he finds that there is over a million dollars sitting there, just waiting to be taken. Mr. Scammer gets very excited. He sees himself sitting on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, mai tai in hand, pretty girls all around, and plenty of warm sunshine.

But there’s one thing standing between him and his dream life: He needs to somehow transfer the money from the corporate bank account at U.S. Bank into his own account in the Czech Republic. Knowing that U.S. Bank would question any direct transfers for a million dollars to a Czech bank account, Mr. Scammer creates a scheme to get the money sent to him in cash. All he needs are a few unsuspecting volunteers.

To recruit unsuspecting volunteers, Mr. Scammer puts together a glitzy website that promises huge profits for working at home. Mr. Scammer also trolls through CraigsList, Dice and Monster looking for people that are out of work and need money. Why target this group? Because Mr. Scammer knows that people who are out of work are very desperate and are happy to take anything that comes along. They won’t ask tough questions. They just need money. He designs his website to appeal to that demographic.

 

 

Along comes Mr. Innocent, an American citizen, who’s been out of work for four months. He’d been advertising his resume on all the job boards and is responding to any help-wanted websites he can find. One day, he gets an email from a potential employer who found his name on CraigsList. Mr. Innocent points his browser at Mr. Scammer’s glitzy website and is captivated by the promise of working at home. Unlike Mr. Scammer, Mr. Innocent doesn’t visualize sitting on a beach at Cabo; rather, Mr. Innocent sees himself paying his mortgage and feeding his children. So he responds to Mr. Scammer’s promise of work-at-home and is rewarded with a very flattering email. The email says, “We’re happy you’ve found us, because we’ve been looking for someone with your qualifications. We promise you lots of work and flexible hours.” Mr. Innocent is desperate, but suddenly some good news picks up his spirits. He gets excited and loses any sense of suspicion. Finally! A job! he says to himself. He agrees to work for Mr. Scammer and do whatever is necessary to earn money.

Mr. Scammer recruits a lot of other people like Mr. Innocent, stringing all of them along with the promise of a good paying job. Then, with all his recruits in place, Mr. Scammer puts his nefarious plan in motion. Late on a Friday afternoon, Mr. Scammer logs into the hacked corporate bank account at U.S. Bank and begins creating transactions. He sends $5,000 to each of his recruits, depositing the money directly into their bank accounts.

Mr. Innocent receives two pieces of good news. First, he sees $5,000 suddenly appear in his bank account. Secondly, he receives an email from Mr. Scammer, instructing him to withdraw $4,200 from his account, in cash. Mr. Innocent can keep $800 for himself, but the $4,200 cash is to be taken to Western Union, where it is to be wired directly to Mr. Scammer in the Czech Republic.

Having recruited 200 people like Mr. Innocent, Mr. Scammer suddenly sees $840,000 appear at his end of the Western Union window. Since he never set foot on American soil, he cannot be pursued by their police. Further, the money is all in cash, something that would be very difficult – if not impossible – to recover.

Mr. Scammer is very happy.

Mr. Innocent is very happy.

The finance department at the corporation whose account has been pilfered didn’t bother to check the bank account until Tuesday afternoon. Suddenly, there is an emergency meeting of top-level executives. Apparently, there is one million dollars missing from their bank account! They call the bank, only to find out that someone with a legitimate password had executed numerous transactions totaling one million dollars, and all that money went to 200 individuals all across the country. Because each transfer was for a relatively low amount, the transactions failed to trigger alarms at the bank.

A government investigation is launched, and soon, there is a man with a nice suit and a badge knocking on Mr. Innocent’s door. Mr. Innocent suddenly looks a lot like Mr. Guilty. He has been duped, and he loses his $800 right away. Furthermore, as part of a fraud, Mr. Innocent is charged with a crime.

The investigation rounds up all of Mr. Scammer’s recruits and charges every one of them with fraud. They are labeled with the term, “Money Mule” for their unwitting cooperation in a massive international fraud. They all feel rightfully stupid by this time, as the wisdom of hindsight hits them like a hammer over the head.

Unfortunately, the government investigation ends at the U.S. border, beyond which sits Mr. Scammer, laughing as he books his flight to Cabo San Lucas.

Bottom Line: Most – if not all – online work-at-home-and-get-rich-quick schemes are part of a fraud, just waiting to see you land in jail. If you’re out of work, you are an especially large target for people trying to scam you into carrying their money for them. Don’t fall for this trick. True, you can get rich working at home, but it won’t be quick, and it won’t be without a lot of sweat. But it won’t land you in jail either. The only way to work at home and get rich quick is to win the lottery, and so far, I’ve been highly unsuccessful with that.

Best,

Dan

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