Instagram and TikTok used to recruit money mules; risk prison and bank account ban

A law enforcement agency has said that both Instagram and TikTok are increasingly being used to recruit money mules, who are either knowingly or unknowingly helping criminal gangs to launder money.

Those caught face prison sentences of up to 14 years, and are also likely to be banned from holding or opening a bank account …

Ads are placed on the social media and short video platforms, showing people holding large sums of cash and offering the opportunity to make money quickly.

Those responding are put in touch with someone who will offer to transfer money into their account. They’re told all they have to do is transfer the bulk of the money to another account and they’ll get to keep the rest. In other cases, when money is transferred into the country from overseas, they may be asked to withdraw it in cash.

Whether or not they realize it, they are helping criminal gangs launder money, which is a serious criminal offence.

BBC News says that UK cases are up 11% on last year, and those involved often don’t understand the risks they are running. The cite the example of one man who unwittingly got involved.

Derai says he hadn’t heard of money mules until he became one […]

“I saw a friend post online, saying: ‘Do you want to make quick money today?'” Derai says the friend’s Instagram account had pictures of “cars, hands holding £50 notes, holidays”.

“It was glitz and glamour,” he says. “She’d say: ‘I made this much money today and you can too’.”

Derai responded to a “quick cash” advert on Instagram and was put in touch with someone he now knows was a money mule recruiter.

After exchanging messages Derai shared his bank details and £4,000 ($5,000) was put into his account the same day. He met a recruiter at a bank, planning to withdraw the money deposited in his account and hand it back to them.

As he followed their instructions, the cash machine swallowed his card and his bank told him it had closed his account shortly afterwards […]

“I was told I couldn’t have a bank account for up to six years,” Derai says. “It’s a blacklist. You can’t get a credit card, a loan or a mortgage.”

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) says social media is a common recruiting path.

The NCA says TikTok and Instagram are “very prevalent” in cases it’s investigating.

Instagram owner Meta said it worked with UK banks and investigators to tackle scams and stop criminal activity. TikTok said that, in spring 2024, it removed 95.9% of videos violating its fraud and scam policies before they were reported. Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. said it routinely saves suspected illegal content and makes it available to authorities upon request.

The usual advice applies: if a deal seems too good to be true, it is.

Photo: Alexander Mils/Unsplash