Podcast: From Crypto to Online Romance, How Money Mule Tactics Are Evolving

With the pandemic and other factors triggering growth in — and new dimensions of — “money mule” scams, how what should bankers watch out for? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by ServiceLink — two bank fraud and AML professionals share trends they’re seeing, including:

• Why money mules are increasingly seeking to open business accounts to move illicit cash
• The growing intersection of money mule scams and online romance scams
• How money mule victims, once informed by the bank that they’re likely involved in scam, move from unwitting participants to witting accomplices
• The increase in cryptocurrency angles on money mule scams
• Red flags that frontline bank staff should be on the lookout for
• How money mule fraudsters perpetuate multiple cycles of fraud with the same victims through “recovery scams”

If you can’t see the audio player above, click here to listen to this episode. View the ABA Foundation/FTC infographic on money mule scams.

This episode is sponsored by ServiceLink.

In this episode:

Catheryn Avalos
VP, BSA/AML Risk Strategies and Quality Assurance Manager
Zions Bancorporation

Nicolas Khouri
Senior Compliance Director and Deputy BSA Officer
Ally Bank

Evan Sparks
Editor-in-Chief
ABA Banking Journal