The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has circulated a "special alert" warning financial institutions that criminals are increasingly turning to "average Joe" bank account holders, and electronic funds transfers, to launder their ill-gotten gains. The unwitting account holders, sometimes labeled "money mules", are typically recruited on the internet by criminals with unauthorized access to the online deposit accounts of businesses or individuals, the FDIC noted.
"In a typical scenario, the criminal will originate unauthorized EFTs from a victim's account to a money mule's deposit account. The money mule is then instructed to withdraw the funds quickly and wire them overseas after deducting a "commission" (commonly eight to 10 per cent), the FDIC alert notes.
The regulator said criminals had been targeting online deposit accounts at institutions which allowed customers to originate EFTs, such as automated clearing house and wire transfers, over the internet. It added, however,
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