How not to get recruited as a money mule

Money mules are an essential cog in the machinery of international Internet theft. Commonly they are recruited through an Internet job site or via spam email by off-shore thieves.

The thieves use spear phishing or other means to get the banking credentials of businesses, government bodies or non-profit groups. They transfer money from their victim�s banks to their money mules� bank accounts. The mules are told to wire the cash to the thieves via untraceable international transfer services minus a 10 percent commission.

Here is a recruiting spam email. The attachment �Position offer!� is a text file. That�s to avoid email filtering.


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Your first line of defense is: DON�T OPEN SPAM ATTACHMENTS!

But, let�s assume you�re desperate for a job and bite at this.

If you do read something like this, look for bad English grammar and non-standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling.

(Below we've cut just the important parts out of a monster 920-word document.)

The pitch:

Dear Sir/Ma,

    Would you like to work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly? We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company, Tangram Interior We need someone to work for the company as a Representative/Bookkeeper in the USA. This is in view of our not having an office presently in the USA.

The bait (which is always WAAAY too good to be true):

* The average monthly income is about 4000.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day
 
The setup:

Your tasks are;
1. Receive payment from Customers
2. Cash Payment at your Bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to. (Payment is to be forwarded by Western Union Money Transfer).

Who to contact to hook yourself:
A swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.

Thanks For Your Total Understanding.
Harry Jones,
Staffing and Recruiting Dept,
Regional Manager,
Tangram Interior.
jones.harry98@mail.com

The defense: do some research:

A Web search for �Tangram Interior� turned up the company�s web site. Checking out their location(s) revealed this:

 
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A vast, sprawling corporate headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., as well as huge locations in Santa Ana, Woodland Hills and Riverside, Calif.

Does that seem like a company that has no accounts-receivable staff in the U.S.?

Do you think it�s going to be offering jobs using a non-company email account? (jones.harry98@mail.com).

And, a check of Tangram�s �employment� page turns up this:

�Important public notice.
�Our Company is a victim of an Internet scam.  Unscrupulous individual(s) are using our Company name and our website to perpetrate a fraud.  If you receive an email regarding a job opening that invites you to work from home and process payments (money orders or money drafts) please do not respond.�
. . .
That�s a whole lot of clues.

Tom Kelchner