Student loses £4000 in 'money mule' scam

Trading Standards Service (TSS) is warning consumers to be on their guard, after a student fell victim to a fund transfer scam.

The warning comes during Scams Awareness Month, when TSS revealed that Northern Ireland consumers lose over £100million every year on bogus lotteries, prize draws, and other scams.

A 36 year-old student, who won a scholarship to study for a Masters Degree at Queen’s University Belfast, replied to a work from home advertisement on a popular job recruitment website, and became the victim of a ‘money mule’ scam operating from Malaysia.

The student was offered the position of UK Customer Representative by the fraudsters. He was then asked to lodge two cheques, for approximately £2,000 each, into his bank account, withdraw the money and send it overseas using a wire transfer service, with the deduction of a 10% commission payment. When the bank concerned discovered that the cheques were invalid, they debited the student’s account, leaving him over £4,000 out of pocket.

Kerry McAuley, Trading Standards Service, said: “We are urging anyone who is considering work from home opportunities to be extremely wary of job offers from individuals or companies overseas. Students, in particular, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to this ‘money mule’ scam, as they often have their details already listed on recruitment websites, social networking sites or in chat rooms.”

Trading Standards advises anyone seeking work via online recruitment websites, to take steps to verify the legitimacy of any company that makes a job offer.

Kerry continued: “An important precaution is to check that the company’s contact details are correct - check the postal address, telephone number, email address and website, and verify whether the company is registered in the UK.

“Entering details about the company into an internet search engine may provide important information on the company’s authenticity. Finally, never give your bank details to anyone unless you know and trust them.”

If you think you may have been the victim of a scam, or suspect a scam, tell family and friends and contact Consumerline on tel: 0845 600 6262 or tel: 028 9025 3900 or log on to www.consumerline.org. Consumerline is the consumer advice helpline for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).

Notes to Editors:

1. Scams Awareness Month is part of an annual, international initiative, organised by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has enlisted the support of local authority Trading Standards Services, Consumer Direct, and other consumer and industry bodies
2. The key message of the campaign is that as scams have become more sophisticated, new methods are being used to get smart with the scammers, including using new European laws, including the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulations, closer co-operation with authorities, as well as ‘naming and shaming’ companies and individuals.
3. TSS, in partnership with the OFT and nearly 50 local authority Trading Standards Services in Great Britain, previously ran a successful Scams Awareness campaign in February 2008. Over 15,000 scam mailings were dropped by members of the public into designated bins across the UK.
4. ‘Fund transfer’ or ‘money mule’ scammers advertise for people to handle payments on their behalf, in return for a percentage of the money. The advertisement will normally state that they are an overseas company seeking ‘UK representatives’ or ‘agents’ to act on their behalf for a set period of time. They offer people who have access to the internet, the chance to earn easy money for a few hours each week. The jobseeker is given a forged or stolen cheque to pay into their bank account, withdraw the cash and then send it to the fraudster by money transfer, less 10% commission payment.
5. For media enquiries please contact the DETI Press Office, telephone 028 9052 9297 or 07866 847919. Outside office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.