Money Mules

Last year the Zug prosecution service dealt with 176 cases of internet crime, an upward trend. Unfortunately, it is not easy for the authorities to find these internet criminals as they have taken to using so-called money mules, who make their own accounts available to the criminals.

Having stolen money from accounts by using malware, the criminals send on the funds to mules, who launder it for them, for a fee. In the following case, the victim was a woman from Zug, the mule being a  58-year-old man from Zurich.

It was at the end of June 2017 that the latter received a mail asking if he might like to make some extra cash by working in the property business, no specialist knowledge being required. He replied to accept and two days later a woman phoned him saying she had got his e-mail address and telephone number from the RAV employment agency. Not long later he received confirmation saying he had been accepted as the representative of the regional head of an estate agency dealing with international property.

As to his tasks, these included collecting payments from customers, preparing the appropriate property information, the dispatching of the said documentation along with collecting of the down payment on the property to be handed on to the vendor. One would have thought all of this might make him suspicious; nevertheless, he went along with it. Then he was told he had to check his account at least twice a day and ensure that there was no limit on the amount of cash he could take out, to avoid any delay. As of 31 July this year, he had a mail telling him funds were expected imminently and to confirm receipt of such without delay, which he did.

The mule duly went to the bank, withdrew the cash, all CHF 19,500 of it, and sent it off to an address in Russia, having been given strict instructions to say, if asked by the post employee, that the packet’s value was only CHF 15.00. The CHF 19,500 was, in fact, the money stolen via malware.

The 58-year-old has since been convicted of money laundering and fined CHF 4,000, in part suspended, meaning he only has to pay CHF 800. As to the woman who lost her money, she is pursuing the case through a civil court.