E-Mail Scamming Trends Reach an All New Low: Are You a Mule?

My name is (insert name) . I work for (insert company) . I have just been authorized by my employer to hire you on to help handle funds that our company can not handle on its own. The sum of the funds is (insert amount). For your troubles, I have been authorized to allow you to keep (insert amount) of the total funds.

Please contact me as soon as possible with your contact information including your bank account information so that I can forward the funds to you quickly.

Sincerely yours,

(insert name)
(insert position)
(insert email address)

Numerous people worldwide have received emails similar to this one. Someone requesting their help to transfer funds from one account to their own. Along with putting yourself at risk by giving your bank account information to this stranger, you also are at risk of becoming this persons "mule."

What is a mule?

Most people, when thinking about mules, think of the equestrian cousin used to bear heavy loads for long journeys. Along the same lines, a mule in the criminal world, is someone used to, sometimes without their knowing, transfer large amounts of merchandise or money from one point to another. Several crime dramas and movies over the years have involved people transporting large amounts of illegal merchandise or narcotics from one location to another, usually from one country to another.

In the still fledgling world of cyberspace, criminals use "mules" to transfer sums of money from some unsuspecting victims account spreading across the world to mules that have been recruited, sometimes unwittingly, for this purpose. The mule then, getting a small portion of the money for themselves, transfer the remainder of the funds to a central account that the criminal has set up for this purpose.

The worst part of this scam is that most of the time, the criminal is not the one who takes the heat for the crime, but it is the mules who wind up taking the heat. Some of them even spending time in prison for many times unwittingly participating.

How do I protect myself?

The best way to protect yourself would be to never give your personal or financial information to anyone through email. Even if you think you know the person, it could be an email unknowingly sent from the person through a virus on their computer, or it could possibly be intercepted en route to that person. Further more, if it is someone that knows you well enough, they would already know most of your personal information (name, phone number, etc.) and would have no need for your financial information.

Another piece of advice, if you receive an email from someone you do not know, or that looks suspicious, do not open it. It could contain a virus or bot to siphon information from your computer. Thus, passing it along to someone waiting for the information to use it for criminal purposes. If you happen to open one of these emails, immediately run a virus check to make sure your system has not been infected.

Yet more advice, if someone sends you a file in an email that you did not request, do not download it onto your computer or even open it in your email program. Though most email services and programs now have virus checking systems, there are some virus that can slip past these checks. These messages or programs may contain malware, which will get into your system and wreak havoc on it (more on malware later).

A final piece of advice, do not trust any email. Though it may say it is from one of your closest and nearest friends, it could have been sent by a virus using their email address to send out dangerous messages. If you receive an email from someone that does not normally send you emails, then you can be fairly sure, that it is not likely to have come from your friend.

What is malware?

Malware is derived from the word "mal," meaning bad, and ware, a shortened term used by IT (Information Technology) professionals meaning software. Malware is generally "sloppy" code placed into a web page, email, or program that is intended to sometimes cause serious problems on a computer. Malware was first discovered by accident by programmers while trying to create programs for computers. Due to "sloppy" coding by these programmers, problems occurred on systems that the software was run on.

When computer criminals discovered this, they began to use this knowledge to their advantage. So, a last bit of advice, be careful. Whatever you are doing on the internet, whether it be surfing the world wide web or checking your email, always be cautious and do not take any unnecessary risks.

One last thing, if by chance you notice money strangely appearing or disappearing from your account, report it straight away. The best way to stay out of trouble, is to report the mysterious account activity as soon as possible.