Fraud

How to avoid becoming a money mule: spot the recruiter before your account is used

A money mule is someone who transfers or moves illegally acquired money on behalf of someone else (FBI, money mules). It starts with an offer that looks like easy money: let your account be used for a while, receive an amount, forward it, and keep a percentage (Veilig Bankieren). What the recruiter does not mention: the money comes from fraud, your name is on the account, and that is exactly why the police end up at your door and not at his. The Dutch police states it plainly: the arrest rate for money mules is 100 percent (politie.nl).

What is a money mule?

A money mule is someone who lets their own bank account be used to move criminal money: the fraudulent amount lands in your account and leaves it again, often towards a foreign account, and you keep a percentage or a fee (Veilig Bankieren). It is a crime even if you did not know or were pressured (bank.nl). A money mule is not a job: it is the intermediary where the money trail stops, while the criminal stays out of sight (Slachtofferhulp Nederland). To recognise the recruitment pattern, start with the five checks below.

Direct answer: five checks before you share your account

1. Never lend your account, card or PIN — not even to someone you know. The account stays in your name: the bank freezes it the moment fraud money passes through, and you are the one who has to repay the missing amount (Slachtofferhulp Nederland). A friend who wants to forward money once is a reason to say no.
2. Recognise the recruitment pattern. Unsolicited contact through Snapchat, Telegram, WhatsApp or on the schoolyard, a story about temporarily depositing money, and a percentage you may keep: that is the route criminals use, according to Veilig Bankieren (Veilig Bankieren). The FBI lists the same shape in 'job offers': using your own account to receive and transfer funds, keeping a portion, and no specific job description (FBI).
3. Test every offer against one rule: no genuine employer or client uses your private account as a pass-through. Anyone who asks for that is not offering work, they are laundering money (FBI). Unsure about a job offer? Verify the company through a channel you found yourself; our guide on spotting a fake job offer walks through that check.
4. Know the consequences before you say yes. Taking part is a crime even if you did not know or were pressured (bank.nl). In practice: a criminal investigation, a criminal record, repaying the stolen money, no certificate of good conduct, and up to eight years of limited or no access to banking services through the incident and referral registers (politie.nl; Slachtofferhulp).
5. Already involved? Stop today and report it. Block your card, change your PIN, tell your bank, file a police report and keep the bank statements and every message from the recruiter as evidence (Slachtofferhulp). If you are being pressured, anonymous support exists (in the Netherlands via Keerpunt, keerpunt.chat).

Why young people are the target

Criminals deliberately look for people in financial trouble or people who cannot oversee the consequences; the Dutch police names young people and people with a mild intellectual disability (politie.nl). The FBI sees the same target group: students, job seekers and people who met someone online (FBI). The offer arrives through channels that feel familiar — a DM, a vague job posting, a dating contact — and the first small payment is sometimes really made to build trust (Veilig Bankieren).

What a detector does and does not see

Money-mule recruitment usually involves no generated image or AI text at all: it is a person with a story. A detector score therefore says nothing about the recruiter. You can run the message through the text detector as triage — template messages sometimes draw a signal — but a low score never proves the offer is genuine, and a high score is not proof of fraud. The check that works is the rule in step 3: your account is not a pass-through.

If you already forwarded money

• Stop forwarding immediately and cut contact with the recruiter.
• Call your bank, block your card and change your PIN (Slachtofferhulp).
• File a police report (in the Netherlands 0900-8844, or 112 in an emergency; anonymous reporting via 0800-7000 or meldmisdaadanoniem.nl) (Veilig Bankieren).
• Keep everything: bank statements, chat messages, the recruiter's number or account, and timestamps.
• Report the account on the platform where you were approached, so it gets removed.

More on the related patterns is in the guides on spotting a fake payment proof, spotting a fake collection letter and spotting an AI voice-clone scam. To check a single message or file, use the free checker.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a crime if I did not know the money was criminal?

Yes. According to bank.nl money mules are punishable even when they were pressured or unaware of the fraud (bank.nl). Slachtofferhulp describes the double position: you are a victim of the recruiter and a suspect in the criminal investigation at the same time (Slachtofferhulp).

What happens to my bank account?

The bank can freeze the account and register you in the internal incident register and the external referral register; in practice that means years without a new account, loan or mortgage (bank.nl; Slachtofferhulp). You also have to repay the forwarded amount, even if it is already gone.

My child was used as a money mule. What now?

File a police report, inform the bank and preserve all evidence; under 16 the registration period is shorter, but the debt and the investigation remain (bank.nl; politie.nl). Talk about it at home: criminals specifically target people who avoid that conversation.

Can a detector score expose a recruiter?

No. The score describes patterns in text or images and says nothing about the sender or the origin of the money. Use it as triage and the account rule as the decision: no legitimate offer asks for your private account as a pass-through.