A mule is normally a hybrid between a horse mare and a donkey stallion. In terms of financial crime, however, a mule can also be a person who knowingly or unknowingly helps criminals launder money. Until now, the criminals have tried to recruit adults as mules, but now they are also targeting children.







What the criminals do
Most often, fraud takes place in pedestrian streets with many shops and many people. The criminal will approach a child with the story that he has forgotten his credit card at home. Next, the criminal asks the child if he can use its smartphone to transfer, say, DKK 5,000 to the child via MobilePay or another payment service, and then the child is asked to withdraw the same amount in cash for the criminal at an ATM.

Strike a blow for openness 
“Talk to your children and tell them never to help an adult – in the street or online – with money transfers. Not even if the adult looks like an ordinary adult in control of things,” says Linus Fugl.

In general, he also points out that openness is the criminals’ worst enemy. Openness between banks, customers, the police and, not least, between parents and their children. The explanation is that once a type of fraud becomes known to the general public, it tends to be less used.

In romance scams, where criminals start a virtual love affair with their victims to dupe them out of their money, the criminals count on the shame victims often feel if they are open about having been scammed.