Police warn: young people are being recruited as money mules on social media
Criminals promise easy money to young people on popular platforms. Police and Unicef warn of the phenomenon becoming more widespread.
Police warn: young people are being recruited as money mules on social media
Criminals are recruiting young people as money mules by promising easy money on popular social media platforms. Yle reports that fraudsters are targeting particularly Snapchat and Telegram.
The United Nations children's organisation Unicef estimates that real case numbers are higher than official figures. According to the organisation, many young people do not even realise they have been exploited by criminals.
Acting as a money mule means that a young person transfers money from a criminal group through their own accounts. This can lead to serious consequences, even if the young person does not know the background of the crime.
Police are urging parents to discuss social media phenomena with their children and to explain that they should not accept money offered by strangers.
Source: Google News FI — Crime (fi)