Gardaí arrest suspected money mule recruiter being used to help carry out fraud

Money mules are people who allow their bank accounts to be used to facilitate money laundering.

25th May 2021minutes ago 3,521 Views 

Image: Leah Farrell

GARDAÍ HAVE ARRESTED a man in his late 20s as part of an ongoing investigation into international invoice redirection fraud.

The man was arrested in west Dublin yesterday and is suspected to be involved in the recruitment of money mules. Money mules are people who allow their bank accounts to be used to facilitate money laundering.

Invoice redirect fraud is carried out by scammers contacting businesses that regularly use suppliers and perform online financial transactions.

The scammers will email, write to or phone a business pretending to be their legitimate supplier.

They will then attempt to get someone in the business to change the bank account details that they have for the supplier to a different bank account that ultimately benefits the criminals.

The man arrested yesterday  is currently being held under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007, at Lucan Garda station. He can be held for up to seven days.