Fergie's Tech Blog

'Money Mules' Help Haul Cyber Criminals' Loot

Brian Krebs writes in The Washington Post:

The e-mail offer of a work-at-home job was a godsend to Deena Monroe, a Statesville, N.C., single mom who had just been laid off from her position as a warehouse supervisor. The prospective employer said Monroe's resume had been spotted on job search site Careerbuilder.com and offered her the chance to make a few hundred dollars a week completing sales for a marketing company based in Australia.

Monroe said she researched the company named in the solicitation -- Adamant Global Pty Ltd. -- and concluded it was a legitimate firm. In mid-September, she decided to take the offer. She was asked to add an e-mail address to her account at PayPal, which the Adamant rep explained that she needed to transfer money on the company's behalf.

Soon after, Monroe received a deposit of $2,601 into her PayPal account, with instructions to transfer the money to her checking account, withdraw it and wire the bulk of the amount via Western Union to two separate addresses in India. She was told to keep 10 percent as her commission.

Less than two weeks later, Monroe received a terse e-mail from an eBay user who was curious when he might receive the new computer he'd won at auction, the one for which he'd sent precisely $2,601 to her PayPal account.

posted by Fergie @ 1/25/2008 11:39:00 AM