Irish police believe that an Irish teenager has recruited more than 50 young people in Co Kerry as money mules for an international criminal syndicate.
The teenager has successfully convinced dozens of students to allow their bank accounts to be used to hold money earned by the syndicate's criminal activity, according to a report in The Irish Times.
Gardaí are reportedly very concerned that so many young people are willing to allow their bank accounts to be used for criminal activities.
The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau is currently investigating the criminals involved in the scheme, with more than 400 suspects arrested from two different gangs as part of Operation Skein.
The core criminals involved in the scheme are suspected of stealing more than €20 million from victims around the world, according to the Irish Times.
The scheme involves sending fake invoices to unsuspecting companies and trick them into sending money to bank accounts owned by the gangs by making them believe that they are transferring money to a normal business partner.
The crimes are known as invoice redirect frauds and are carried out by a group of core criminals at the heart of the criminal syndicate.
The syndicate then seeks to filter the money through a wide network of bank accounts and is targetting students at secondary and university levels.
Recruiters working on behalf of the gangs have launched campaigns to convince young people to allow their bank accounts to be used to hold sums of money in return for monthly payments.
One such campaign included launching social media promotions advertising "working from home" in exchange for monthly payments.
However, gardaí are easily able to track the frauded money through the network of bank accounts as soon as victims realize that they have been targetted, resulting in the arrest of more than 400 people involved in the scheme, including members of the syndicate, recruiters, and young people who allow their accounts to be used.
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