Don't be a mule

Thousands of bank account holders are being used by criminals as "money mules" to launder the proceeds of crime, according to fraud figures released today.

CIFAS, a fraud prevention service working on behalf of banks, retailers and hundreds of other organisations, says there has been a 54 per cent jump in the misuse of bank accounts so far this year.

The fraudsters target students, the unemployed and others who are stuggling financially - asking permission to use their accounts to handle money and transfer it to banks overseas, in exchange for a fee.

Fraud experts say the funds can come from internet scams, drug sales or people-trafficking.

CIFAS says there were 11,920 examples of account misuse in the four months to April. That's 19% up on the previous 4 months and 54% higher than the same period last year.

Over half of the frauds arose from individuals allowing their accounts to be used to receive money linked to organised crime.

Some people who become involved are unaware that they may be committing an offence and could have their bank account closed.

Crimestoppers has been campaigning on university campuses, telling students, "Don't be a mule!"

Alarming rise in identity fraud

The last three months have seen a 40% increase compared to a year ago in identity frauds, where fraudsters use a victim's name, address or other information to steal money or attempt to steal it.

There were nearly 34,000 cases, affecting banks and their customers, but also phone companies and home shopping, according to the industry fraud body, CIFAS - which described the figures as alarming.

The numbers of cases where fraudsters took over people's accounts to try to take money increased by over 80% from the same quarter a year ago to 10,500 - and they were 16% higher than the previous three months.

Most of the damage is being done online, the result of spam emails, computer infections or carelessness, allowing scam merchants to gain access to personal details.

And there are instances of mail being intercepted and criminals sifting through the contents of rubbish bins to look for useful information.

In the majority of cases banks or other businesses will bear the initial loss from fraud, though the cost can feed through to higher prices.

Alarming rise in theft from customers

There's been 41% rise in employees stealing money from customers or the businesses they work for.

Fraud experts say the jump is partly the result of continuing austerity, with some staff desperate to make ends meet or fearing redundancy -- although in other cases the perpetrators enjoyed the thrill of committing a fraud or wanted to take revenge on bosses.

The figures come from CIFAS, which analyses fraud for an alliance of leading firms, including banks, credit card companies, retailers and insurers.

It has been monitoring a sample of 80 members and reports that last year cases of "dishonest actions by staff to gain a benefit from theft or deception" rose to 220 from 156 the year before.

The numbers in the sample appear small, but they only cover those cases where there is evidence of an identifiable criminal act. CIFAS says the rise is "alarming".

Richard Hurley, a CIFAS manager, warns that "many of these fraudsters steal from elderly and more vulnerable account holders"

He says that nearly a third of the cases involved the theft of cash from customers.

Here are some typical cases:

* an employee stealing cash from a customer. An example would be where a customer deposits £150 cash into an account but the member of staff steals £20 and
deposits the rest.

* a customer service worker at a credit card company diverts funds from your account while speaking to you over the phone and looking at all your account details

* a phone company account handler handles your payments and diverts cash for his own benefit.

* a staff member steals from a company by removing cash from the float in the till.