Children as young as 15 are being used as so called money mules.
Figures from FraudSMART show more that 12 million euro was illegally transferred via money mule accounts in the first half of last year.
The number of bank accounts being used almost doubled on the year before, to 3,000, and the average sum transacted through each one was just under 4 thousand euro.
The majority of the accounts were held by young adults, between 18 and 24 years of age.,
Head of Financial Crime at the Banking and Payments Federation, Niamh Davenport, says younger people don’t understand the risks involved:
