Treasury Releases Fraud and Money Mule ID Tips

The US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released an advisory warning of criminals using COVID-19-related imposter scams and money mule schemes. 

According to the advisory, there's no single "red flag" that reliably indicates illicit activity. FinCEN suggests that financial institutions add contextual information to activity analysis as a more robust fraud indicator.

The advisory also contains information on recognizing consumer fraud related to the coronavirus, as most fraud schemes involve interacting with a financial institution during the criminal process.

In addition, the advisory describes behavior patterns indicating that an individual might be an "unwitting, witting, or complicit" money mule as part of a fraudulent scheme. FinCEN also includes information on how to contact federal law enforcement with proper reference to the advisory so that proper narratives can be constructed and complete records kept.

Read more here.