Criminals’ cash

By Tania Martin
AN EMERALD woman is warning hills people to beware of an internet con after she was mixed-up in a money laundering scam.
The 21-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, was shocked to discover she had become victim to such as scam.
It all started when she received a bogus job offer last month from an organisation claiming to be associated with the employment company SEEK.
“I had applied for a number of jobs in January and was really surprised to get a job offer from this company,” she said.
“I didn’t apply for the job but the company had all my details and it seem to be legitimate.”
The job was a set up for an overseas online auction company. However, after signing up for the job and giving out her bank details, the woman became suspicious when she didn’t receive any work after several days.
“It just didn’t feel right, so I rang SEEK and discovered that it was all a money laundering scam,” she said.
“I then had to ring the Federal Police and was told to close my bank account before any money could be transferred into it.”
SEEK spokeswoman Natalie Mactier said that scammers had used the SEEK brand as a way of capturing recipients’ attention.
Ms Mactier assured the Mail that the sender of the scam was not associated with SEEK and the scammer had hijacked its brand in order to win trust of the unsuspecting victims. She said the Emerald woman would have been one of many to receive the email.
Australian Federal Police spokeswoman Rhiannon McAdie said people who fall victim to this type of crime are commonly referred to as ‘money mules’.
The money mule is tricked into giving their bank account details to criminals who then transfer their money into the victim’s account.
The criminals then take the money out again in the hope that police will not monitor money which is taken from an account belonging to a law abiding person.
Ms McAdie said consumers should ignore and immediately delete any scam offers.
“Money mule adverts or offers can take a variety of forms and the criminals may even fake a website to add authenticity to the scam,” Ms McAdie said.
“The fraudsters use emails to spam millions of addresses in the hope they will convince a person to respond to the offer.”
Ms McAdie said the scammers usually prey on people who need to make extra money quickly and easily, by working a few hours a week and only needing internet access.
“Although the offer may seem attractive, the activity is illegal and any commission payments received are recovered as the proceeds of fraud and depending on the situation may be prosecuted.”
A conviction for money laundering could carry a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment.
The AFP is warning that this is not an isolated case and urges people to report similar scams to the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce by calling 1300 302 502 or by logging on to www.scamwatch.gov.au.