Mainstream media is finally covering money-mule scams disguised as a work at home offers.

Cyber crime comes in many forms, whether it is phishing, 419 Nigerian scams, fraudulent cheques or money order scams, and much more. In all cases, money changes hand, and it needs to be funnelled back to the scammers in a way that will hide its origins.

To this end, the scammers recruit often unsuspecting people who are a bit naive, unscrupulous and often greedy. The offer normally comes in the form of someone being an agent for a company, collecting payments and sending them.

By using many of those money mules, the effect is distributed over many individuals making it hard for law enforcement to trace it.

It is good that mainstream media is finally raising awareness on this issue.

Resources and Links

• Example of money laundering via "Paypal account manager".
• Example of a money laundering spam.
• Example of a money laundering scheme via company needing agent.
• Another example of a money laundering scheme via company needing agent.
• Yet another example of a money laundering scheme via company needing agent.
• Washington Post: Money Mules help haul cyber criminals' loot.
• Brian Krebs security fix blog post: Just Say no to work at home money mule scams.
• Slashdot discussion.