Phishers are looking into different ways of reaching new recruits of cyber criminals by casting their nets onto social networking sites, creating special Facebook groups for their work-at-home scams, according to Kaspersky Lab.
Far from a novel idea, phishers have been using social networks for years to find new recruits. Now, the scammers have created Facebook groups specifically dedicated to the work-at-home scams that often serve as recruitment schemes for money mules. One such group has almost 225,000 members on Facebook, according to Kaspersky researchers.
The criminals promise high earnings for minimal efforts: $6,000 per month for only 18 hours of work per week. Job responsibilities often involve accepting deposits and wire transfers of thousands of dollars a day, then transferring the money to other accounts designated by the phishing gang.
Although the money mule can make fast cash relatively easy, it is usually they who are most likely to be discovered, arrested and prosecuted. Sometimes, the money mules do not know what the end result of their activities is; all they know is they are transferring money from one account to another.