United Bulgarian Bank issued the following announcement on Dec. 5.

For the third consecutive year, ABB and the Bulgarian law enforcement authorities participate in a European campaign dedicated to the fight against the European Money Mule Action (EMMA).

Financial Mule is a person who transfers illegally acquired funds between different bank accounts, often in different countries, and receives a commission for this activity. According to Europol statistics, in 95% of cases "financial mules" are used to absorb unlawfully transferred funds acquired from previous cybercrime activity. Often funds are intended to fund other criminal activities and money laundering.

The campaign is organized by the European Center for Fight Against Cybercrime (ECOL) (EUROPOL) and the EU Coordination Body for Judicial Cooperation - Eurojust, and the partner is the European Banking Federation, to which ABB is a member. Operational activities were conducted on the territory of 29 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) and are aimed at preventing and counteracting financial crimes on the Internet through financial "mules".

According to information from Europol, 1504 financial mules and 26,376 illegal transactions totaling around 72.4 million euros were identified, more than 24,500 victims of crime were identified prior to the subsequent posting of funds to accounts of financial " mules "and damages of EUR 36.1 million were prevented. 168 people were arrested, 2409 interrogations were held, and 837 investigations were initiated. On the part of the Bulgarian law enforcement authorities, according to information from the Directorate-General for Combating Organized Crime, 112 financial mules and 52 victims of criminal activity have been identified.

The banking sector supports the efforts of the police and the prosecutor's office by helping in any way to curb such fraudulent practices.

ABB believes that cooperation between public authorities and the private sector at European level is crucial in combating financial "mules" as criminals often act across borders. Therefore, the Association of Banks in Bulgaria successfully co-operates with the law enforcement agencies, both in Bulgaria and at European level, to conduct information campaigns on the risks and threats related to financial mules. These campaigns are aimed at helping Internet users to distinguish between dubious and potentially dangerous ads that generate "mules" with promises of easy profits. One of the main means of preventing such offenses is raising awareness of the issue.

How do we protect and what should we do if we receive an email with suspicious content that requires details about us, such as our bank account, and we have doubts that someone is trying to get us into an illegal activity - see the information brochures and videos below, which reveal details of the mechanisms of action of financial "mules".

More information about the campaign can be found on the ABB website . 

Original source can be found here.