Title: Norwegian Youths: Unwitting Money Mules in the Surge of Money Laundering Operations

Money Mules: A New Concern in Financial Crime

In the world of financial crime, money mules have emerged as a significant concern. Money mule activities, traditionally associated with card fraud, have now expanded to money laundering through money transfer services and cards. The Tietoevry Defence Centre in Norway is working tirelessly to stop these illicit operations.

Understanding the Role of Money Mules

A money mule is an unwitting individual used to transfer illicit funds on behalf of others. These funds are derived from activities such as fraud, drug trafficking, or other unlawful enterprises.

The Alarming Rise of Money Mule Operations in Norway

A startling increase in cases

The Tietoevry Defence Centre has detected an alarming number of money mule operations in Norway over the last three months. This totaled 120 cases, a 144 percent increase from the previous period.

Staggering amount of funds involved

These operations aimed to launder a staggering NOK 25.5 million, with nearly NOK 10.5 million worth of transactions being intercepted.

Demographics of Money Mules

Young people as easy prey

The Economic Crimes Authority (Økokrim) and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway have raised concerns over young people being targeted for money laundering. In its 2023 Risk Assessment, the Authority noted:

“It is particularly concerning that young and other vulnerable individuals are being exploited.”

Statistics of identified mules

20 percent of the identified mules were aged between 23 and 33. 15 percent were born between 2000 and 2010. 95 percent of the money mules were male. The youngest identified was only 16 years old.

The Luring of Young People into Money Mule Activities

Young people are often lured into money mule activities through ads on social media for seemingly legitimate jobs with easy money or direct contact from criminals via social media, email, or messaging apps. Peer pressure and reward systems are also common tactics used to recruit young people and create a chain of recruitment among youth groups.

Detecting Money Mule Activity at the Tietoevry Defence Centre

Detecting money mule activity is a new challenge for the Defence Centre, mainly devoted to card and account monitoring to detect third-party fraud. The Defence Centre is increasingly successful in identifying these cases:

“Most often, we uncover money mule activity in connection with suspicions of ‘ordinary’ card or account fraud.” — Kvernberg, Tietoevry Defence Centre.

Through accumulated knowledge over time and the ‘Blocking of Rough Merchants’ (BoRM) service, which blocks transactions with merchants linked to money mule activities, the Defence Centre is more successful in identifying these cases.