Children as young as 14 being recruited by fraud, scam gangs

Children as young as 14 are being targeted by criminal gangs looking to use their bank accounts to launder the proceeds of scams and frauds, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has said.

In some cases, it said, tens or hundreds of thousands of euro have been moved through the youngsters’ accounts.

However, while the number of scam text messages associated with frauds has increased this year by about 20 per cent, the amount of money stolen has fallen to about €7 million in the first nine months of the year. This compares with €11 million last year and €23 million in 2021.

Gardaí also said there had been a 48 per cent drop in “account takeover” crimes this year. These scams usually involve text messages that purport to be from a bank or utility provider with the aim of duping the recipients into using their bank account details to log on to a cloned version of a bank or other website. Once the bank account or card details are obtained, money is stolen or the card details are used to make purchases online.

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Det Supt Michael Cryan said people in the State have become more educated about scams and fewer are falling victim to the tactics that had “exploded” during the pandemic, such as a surge in bogus texts and voice calls.

However, he warned that many fraudsters are very convincing and he urged parents to be vigilant against their children being duped or pressured into allowing others to use their bank accounts to move money, otherwise known as becoming a “mule”.

Mule accounts are used to take receipt of the proceeds of frauds run off scam text messages, emails and phone calls or to rapidly move money through several jurisdictions to frustrate law enforcement. While most mules were aged 19 to 20, children as young as 14 or 15 were being targeted, as were older people, he said.

Det Supt Cryan said young people were being approached in schools, colleges, at parties or via social media by those looking for access to bank accounts. At times, he said, the approaches are from friends or associates, though some young people are very willing to surrender their account details to strangers on the promise of being paid commission.

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“There have been reports of money being seized in mule accounts and criminal organisations coming looking for that money back,” he said of some young people falling into debt to gangs after agreeing to allow their accounts to be used. “They’ve also been forced to go into banks [to withdraw money] and even into shops to make purchases.”

Once mules surrendered their account details, he went on, they were often passed around the world within a network of fraud gangs that shared details to help each other complete crimes. In a number of cases, young people who allowed their accounts to be used as mule accounts were also robbed of legitimate money they had on deposit.

Det Supt Cryan said parents should speak to their children about the dangers of accepting an offer of “easy money” to allow their accounts to be used. He said parents should also ask questions if their children are suddenly spending money from unexplained sources.

He also warned that a “child in trouble” scam had grown in popularity in the Republic this year. This involves a text arriving purporting to be from one of their children who is using a friend’s phone as theirs has been lost or broken. The texts would eventually include a request to send money, often via Revolut, to assist the child in sorting out their situation.