'Money muling' is the transfer of funds for illicit purposes such as money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This practice, through which criminal organizations succeed in involving people often unbeknownst to themselves, dubbed 'mules', is often also connected with cybercrime.
The Computer Emergency Response Team for the Italian financial sector (CERTfin), a public-private cooperation initiative for countering cyber risk, co-chaired by the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and the Bank of Italy, together with the State Police, have adhered to the new cyber awareness campaign for 2022 promoted by Europol and the European Banking Association, to curb the phenomenon of money muling.
The campaign, run by the seventh European Money Mule Action (Operation EMMA 7), seeks to raise awareness of this type of crime, in which citizens and businesses can also become involved, often unknowingly. In particular, the campaign informs citizens and businesses about:
- the ways in which criminals operate in order to procure and engage the 'mules' that transfer funds illegally;
- how to protect themselves and not get involved in such activities;
- what to do if you do get involved.
The communications and documentation related to the EMMA7 campaign are available at the links for Europol and CERTFin.
