Mule

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

Im puzzled you say that a "mule" is usually a innocent person? I fond this very hard to believe. If this person goes and collects money and uses different names, then anyone with half a brain would know this is not legal.
And what about documents you need to get the money? this "mule" must know that using other names and docs to get money for their "never seem person" cant be right.
I can understand people being taken in and giving money as i nearly did, but i cant believe "mules" are innocent
sorry

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 1:30 am

Hi lazza!
Often times mules are victims of employment scams. They think that they have been hired to do a job.
Please read this for a better explanation: http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3230

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:11 am

And when it comes to victims/mules, they are the exception to the fake names rule. Many of those names are real.

As Dya pointed out, employment scams are probably the top way to recruit mules. The job descriptions have gotten more creative over time too.

Romance scams are the 2nd common way to recruit mules. Scammers usually take some time before turning a victim into a mule, waiting until the victim is completely hooked into the scam. That means they will in deeper than you got. The victim will be thoroughly invested in this "relationship" and convinced that he/she is in love with "the one." He/she will be at the point at which he/she believes every half plausible story the scammer tells.

I'm using a female victim example here, but the victim can be male too.

So when the scammer who is on contract in Nigeria is robbed and can't access his bank account, and she has sent all the money she can, he tells her that an old partner/boss/customer who owes him money is ready to send it, and she needs to collect and forward it to him so he can straighten things out and come home. If he wants to hide the mule's name, he may tell her that it was sent to his secretary, but she can't pick it up, and he needs her to pick it up in the secretary's name. Or, he may give the victim sending the money a different name, and once he has the mtcn pickup information, he calls in a name change to WU. At one time, I dealt with a victim who was thoroughly convinced that she was helping the US army, receiving and forwarding money intended for soldiers on top secret military missions who couldn't access their own money. In a situation like this, the scammer may convince the victim she has to use a fake name for security reasons.

Certainly there are cases in which victim mules cross over a line and become accomplices. In the soldier scenario above, the delusional victim finally realized she was being scammed, and she chose to continue as a mule anyway. In that case, we encouraged any victim seeing her name to report her to the police.

There are some real gray zone cases too. The victim on some level knows that everything is not right, but the scammer is manipulating her and threatening to leave because she doesn't love him enough/doesn't trust him/won't help him, etc. She is desperate to hold on to the "relationship" at all costs, so she does what is asked of her simply to keep the scammer happy (and presumably keep him from leaving her).

In general, the more a victim has invested in a scam, both financially and emotionally, the more he/she can be manipulated into

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

So the real Laura Black who the money would have gone to is in Malaysia?
As i suspected but is a innocent victim.
You say these people will do wrong and break the law to keep the "relationship" alive, but as i said to Laura / Fred, Do you want a text relationship or a real relationship, then 2 days later she / he has to fly to Malaysia. I can understand "Honey Traps" as they are real people and you sleep with them and fall in love with them. But to become a mule to someone you have never actually met, only seem photos or read words. i just cant get my head around that.