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During the week, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), together with Eurojust and European Banking Federation (EBF), provided operational and analytical support to the involved partners. As a result of the operation, nearly 700 money mules were identified across Europe and 81 individuals were arrested after 198 suspects were interviewed by law enforcement agencies. With the support of over 70 banks, significant financial losses were discovered and prevented, and over 900 victims of this crime were identified. More than 90% of the reported money mule transactions were linked to cybercrime.
Europol’s EC3 and Eurojust organised three operational and coordination meetings in The Hague to discuss the unique approach of each Member State to tackle money muling in their respective countries. During the action days, Europol deployed a mobile office to provide support to the Romanian authorities. The command centre was set up by Europol in cooperation with Eurojust to assist the national authorities, cross-check all incoming data against the Agency’s databases and collect intelligence for further analysis.
Money mules are individuals recruited by criminal organisations to receive and transfer illegally obtained money between bank accounts and/or countries. Through the money mules, the criminals gain access to the stolen goods or funds without revealing their identity. These fraudulent schemes are often advertised through online postings and social media as seemingly legitimate job opportunities.
The recruited individuals may be willing participants, however some are unaware that their actions foster the cycle of criminal activity. Money mules may also help perpetuate other crimes beyond money laundering as the stolen money might go towards funding other forms of organised crime, such as drug dealing and human trafficking.
The European Money Mule Action (EMMA) is a pilot operational project under the flag of EMPACT Cybercrime Payment Fraud Operational Action Plan, designed to combat online and payment card fraud. EMMA is modelled after a Dutch example successfully employed in recent years in the Netherlands. This action builds upon the effective partnership between the police, the prosecution and the banking sector at the national as well as the international level.
This successful multisectoral action against money muling marks the kick-off of a prevention campaign in all the participating countries in order to raise awareness about this criminal phenomenon and its consequences. In a number of countries the consequences for acting as a money mule can be severe. By agreeing to these illegal schemes the money mules risk the loss of their own personal information to the criminals, as well as long-term impacts on their bank accounts and credit scores, financial accountability for the crime committed and criminal charges.