UK Finance has partnered with fraud prevention body Cifas to provide lessons for young people with the aim of preventing them becoming money mules.

Criminals use money mules to launder the profits of their crimes and often target young people, who are often unaware of the consequences, through social media or approach them outside schools.

The partnership has developed free educational resources for use in schools to teach pupils about the dangers and consequences of becoming a money mule.

It has also launched a campaign aimed at parents and guardians to help them spot the signs that a person in their care is being targeted.

Data released this week by Cifas and UK Finance shows that in the first six months of 2023 there were around 17,200 cases with intelligence indicating money mule activity filed to the Cifas National Fraud Database. Of these, 3,881 involved young people aged 21 and under, who now make up one in five of all cases filed to the Database that bear the hallmarks of muling.

Younger adults aged 30 and under account for 64 per cent of cases indicating money mule activity

Allowing a bank account to be used for illicit purposes can result in a criminal record and those who become money mules are often unaware that the cash they are laundering is used to facilitate crimes including terrorism and people smuggling.

Ben Donaldson, managing director, economic crime at UK Finance, said that parents and guardians have an important role to play in helping young people stay safe.

“The criminals who commit fraud harm people by stealing their money and, often, robbing them of their confidence,” he added. “The criminals who do this need people to launder the money they steal, and they often target young people to do so.

“Exploiting young people in this way is dreadful: the criminals are persuading them to break the law, and that can harm their future.”

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