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Police have arrested 18 alleged “money mules” across the country for their role in laundering $2.6 million of cyber crime funds.
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Scammed Tassie firm recovers $150k in AFP ‘money mule crackdown’
06 December 2023
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A Tasmanian business has been handed back $150,000 it lost through an email scam as part of $2.6 million recovered by the AFP in a nationwide operation that arrested 18 “money mules”.
The interstate bust was the culmination of a two-month investigation carried out under the aegis of Europol’s international European Money Mule Action (EMMA9), an operation that involved 27 law enforcement agencies globally and arrested over 1,000 offenders.
The alleged Australian offenders were charged with various offences including “proceeds of crime offences” and would be subject to maximum penalties of up to 20 years imprisonment, the AFP said.
Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Scott Lee said money mules, like the individuals arrested, were often unaware of their illicit actions and lured into working for criminal syndicates through online scams, such as romance and fake job ads.
“Criminals need legitimate bank accounts to transfer their illicit wealth into and they will use any tactic to dupe people into doing their dirty work,” he said. “Money mules could be transferring someone’s stolen life savings or house deposit.”
“These alleged criminals are stealing from hardworking Australians and aiding these criminal operations. We are grateful that under joint international operation EMMA9 that millions of dollars belonging to Australian victims of cyber crime have been returned.”
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Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Tim McKinney said the funds moved by money mules could also be traced back to other cyber crimes.
As a result, despite money mules often being victims of scams themselves, he said “unsuspecting ones should understand that they are complicit in serious crimes and will be targeted accordingly”.
“The funds that people are being asked to move are the proceeds of other criminal thefts, such as those facilitated by sextortions, text messaging and email scams, virtual kidnappings, fake job advertisements or even romance scams.”
The local Tasmanian business that lost $150,000 through an email scam had the money returned by Tasmanian police last month.
Mr Lee said the AFP had also served a further 70 warning letters to suspected money mules as part of “active and ongoing” investigations.
“Many of these investigations remain active and ongoing and the AFP, along with our law enforcement partners are not ruling out further arrests as a result of EMMA9 and the money mule crackdown we have seen this year.”
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