[ISN] FDIC Warns Banks to Watch for 'Money Mules' Duped by Hackers

[InfoSec News]

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/money_mules/

By Kevin Poulsen
Threat Level
Wired.com
October 29, 2009

Bank customers are increasingly being duped into acting as 'money mules' 
for hackers, unwittingly laundering cash stolen from business bank 
accounts, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation warned the nation's 
financial institutions on Thursday.

Using specialized Trojan horse malware, cybercrooks have been 
intercepting web-banking credentials from the computers of small and 
midsize businesses, and then initiating wire transfers to mules around 
the country. The mules are consumers who've been lured into fake 
work-at-home scams, in which their employment involves receiving money 
transfers and then forwarding the funds to Eastern Europe, either 
directly or through other mules.

The scheme has exploded in the last year, with the FBI estimating losses 
at $40 million so far, according to a recent story from 
WashingtonPost.com reporter Brian Krebs, who's been closely following 
the attacks.

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