April 30, 2024

Behind the Scam: Understanding Money Mules

Show Notes
Transcript

This episode of “Let’s Talk About Scams,” host Joyce Petrowski, founder of R.O.S.E. Resources/Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly, dives deep into the alarming world of romance scams, focusing on a tragic case highlighted in CBS Evening News' series "Anything for Love." Joyce breaks down the manipulative tactics used by scammers, emphasizing the role of "Money Mules" in the fraud process. Through a detailed discussion, listeners gain invaluable insights into the operational strategies of scammers and learn practical tips to safeguard themselves. Joyce's compassionate narrative also stresses the importance of awareness and the critical role of community vigilance. Key Episode Takeaways:

Romance Scams Insight: Overview of a devastating case where a victim lost both money and life.
Money Mules Explained: Detailed explanation of how scammers use innocent people to facilitate illegal transactions.
Preventive Measures: Practical advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.
Resourceful Links: Encouragement to check out the CBS Evening News series for further information.
Community Support: Importance of sharing stories and experiences to educate and protect others.

Remember, knowledge is power—subscribe to "Let's Talk About Scams" podcast to stay updated on ways to safeguard your well-being against scams. Share what you've learned with your loved ones and stay vigilant. Stay safe and informed! Visit https://www.roseadvocacy.org/ for additional resources and newsletters to safeguard against scams. Disclaimer: The information contained in this podcast is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual professional/legal advice. The podcast information was carefully compiled from vetted sources and references; however, R.O.S.E. Resources/Outreach to Safeguard the Elderly cannot guarantee that you will not fall victim to a scam.

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Well, welcome back everybody, So let's talk about scams. I'm

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your host, Joyce Petrowski, founder of Rose Resources, Outreach to

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Safeguard the elderly. You can find more information on our

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website at Roseadvocacy dot org and on the homepage you

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can find our social media links. You can also sign

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up for our emailed newsletter or you could send us

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an email to get on our mailed newsletter. And you're

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going to want to click subscribe so you don't miss

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an episode of Let's Talk About Scams podcast. So today

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I want to talk to you about a news report

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I just watched recently. It's with CBS Evening News with

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Nora O'Donnell. They're doing a week long investigative series called

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Anything for Love where they're looking inside the nation's romance

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scam epidemic. The second clip is going to show Monday,

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April twenty second, and it's going to run that week.

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So when you're seeing this or listening to this, you

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can go look for it online. But the one that

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I watched was about a lady who had recently lost

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her spouse and she was looking for companionship and she

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meant a gentleman online to fast forward through the story.

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She ended up giving away I believe it was about

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a million and a half dollars, and she also ended

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up losing her life. And so her daughter was the

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one that was doing the interview in the hopes of

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let's see what she said here. Her daughter has a

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daughter of her own, and she said, I want her

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to know that her grandmother's story has the ability to

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educate people and to promote change, and ultimately, her grandmother's

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story can save someone's life. So if you get the chance,

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please you can just google the CBS Evening News with

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Nora O'Donnell and you'll find this series, and I highly

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suggest you watch the clip. It's a heartbreaking story and

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our hearts go out to the family. But it has

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a lot of great information about romance scams and how

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they work. But one of the areas that they talked

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about in there was money mules, and they had some

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people that they interviewed in different governmental agencies that had

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talked about these money mules as well, and that's one

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of the areas that we talk about in our presentation,

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and we find that a lot of people don't really

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understand what a money mule is. And you might think, well,

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it sounds harmless, but it's basically receiving a package and

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then taking that same package and sending it to another

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person place, and just by doing that is not illegal.

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What makes that whole process illegal is what's in the

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package was begund and illegally, and so scammers have caught

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on that. They can keep the police really busy investigating

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each place that the package goes to, and then by

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the time the law enforcement catches up with the end

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destination of the package, it's out of the United States,

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and the money's gone, whatever was in there's gone, and

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then it becomes extremely difficult to try to investigate because

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now you are having to bring in the law enforcement

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from whatever country the package ended up in. And sometimes

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it works well. Other times, you know, the law enforcement

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in the other countries aren't necessarily ready to work with

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you know, the United States law enforcement to to try

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to figure this out for whatever reason. You know, I

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don't know what reason why they wouldn't want to work

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with us, but there's a variety of different reasons. What

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I'm finding out is there are a lot of people

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that will end up being a money mule. Unknowingly they

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don't know. They think they're just doing something nice for someone,

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but yet they are involved in that illegal process. And

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it happens all the time right here in the United States.

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And so, like I said earlier, this is something that

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we've talked about in our presentations, and you know, this

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is a way that if scammers can't get any money

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out of you, then they might, you know, say well,

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I need you to help me. I need you're gonna

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get a package. I need you to take it and

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send it to someone else, you know, And again they've

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already established that relationship with you, and so you want

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to do something nice for them, and you think, well,

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this is harmless, Sure I can go ahead and do that. Well,

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it's not harmless. And you don't know what's in that package.

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You don't know where that package you know, originally came from.

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What's going on, and you do not want to get

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yourself involved in those situations because they are illegal. And

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you know, our thing with this, we tell people and

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our presentations is if somebody asks you to receive a

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package and turn around and mail it to another person

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you know, place, no, they don't need you to do that.

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Your answer is no, you can send that package directly

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to that place where you want it to go. You

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don't need to send it to me and have me

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send it off to someone else. The answer is no,

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you just say no, I'm not going to do that

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for you. But you know, scammers are really good, they're professionals,

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and they're going to have you in that emotional state,

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most likely fear that you think you're going to get

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in trouble if you don't do this. But this is

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where you know you time is your friend, and you

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just want to step back. You want to evaluate the situation.

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You want to have your trusted person that you can

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talk through the situation with, and then you'll be in

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a rational state and not in your emotional state, and

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you'll be able to then realize that, yeah, this is

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not something I want to get myself involved in. So

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just know that money mules are running rampant. A lot

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of scammers are using them, and they're using multiple people,

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so just be very very careful of that. Please do

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not accept anything in order to just take it and

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send it off to, you know, to someone else. In

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one of our presentations recently, I had a lovely lady say, well,

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I'll just accept the package and I'll just turn it

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over to the police. My suggestion to that is no,

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please don't do that because accepting the package, you know,

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the scammer knows who they sent it to, right and

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they know if it's not going to get to the

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next point. So you are just involving yourself in this process.

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What you would do is you just say no to

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the person, I'm not going to accept a package. You

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can just send it directly to that other place. But

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then you can call the police with that information and say,

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I got a call from so and so, this is

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the phone number. They wanted me to accept a package

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and send it off. The police can use that information.

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Do not accept the package and then take it to

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the police. Gather the information that you have and give

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the police the information and say no to accepting the

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package and sending it off. It is a money mule

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and it is illegal, so please be aware of that

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and hang up the phone. You know, if you're talking

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to the person on the phone, hang up the phone

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on them. You know, if you're communicating be a text

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or WhatsApp or all these different you know, communication apps,

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just delete the conversation or you know, if you want

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to copy the conversation and show it to the police.

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That's fine, but then get rid of it. Just be

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done with it. And if it's via email or any

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other thing, just stop the conversation right away. And just

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know the story that I had originally talked about this

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involved a scammer finding the lady on a dating app.

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I believe it was match dot Com. And just know

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that scammers, you know, they have a wide variety of

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ways to contact you and to strike up conversations and

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to get you involved in in what they in what

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they want to do. So just be very careful if

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you are on a dating site. You know there the

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dating sites are good you a lot of people use

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them to find their forever you know, partner, but just

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be very careful, be very careful on the dating sites

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because scammers like to hang out on those. And if

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you have a if you have your profile on a

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dating site, you know, you might want to think about

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not putting widowed or what widow are on there because

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they will search those out. Same thing on social media,

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Be careful about putting widow or widow or on the

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social media profiles. Maybe just put single on there instead

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of that. So anyways, I hope you receive some valuable

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information from this and if there's any topic that you

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would be interested in hearing more about, please reach out

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to us. You can go to our website at Roseadvocacy

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dot org to the contact us page and shoot us

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an email or our phone numbers. There you can give

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us a call as well and we'll do our best

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to get that topic on another episode. So thank you

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for tuning in today, and don't forget you're going to

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want to click that subscribe button. Go on to our

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website at Roseadvocacy dot org. You can sign up for

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our newsletters on the homepage. You'll find our social media

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links there as well. Thank you,

Behind the Scam: Understanding Money Mules

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