Joint Account Money Mules Page Article How fraudsters are using joint accounts to move moneyFirst, the threat actor(s) target people through phishing/smishing campaigns, where the victims are socially engineered to provide their full Online Banking (OLB) credentials.Next, the threat actor(s) will typically recruit individuals to be used as money mules – recruiting is done on social media or in person.Then, recruited money mules will open new accts at a financial institution branch or online or just provide their personal details to threat actor(s).The threat actor(s) will then open personal checking/savings accts via the online channel in the money mule’s name. Once the mule accounts and the compromised victim accounts are in place and under the control of the threat actor, the threat actor(s) then opens a joint account online in the name of both the mule and the victim.Once the joint account is established- the threat actor(s) conducts online funds transfers from the victim’s personal accounts (Checking, Savings, HELOC accounts) to the fraudulently opened joint accounts.The threat actor(s) then move the money from the fraudulent joint accounts to the fraudulent individual mule accounts.Finally, the threat actor(s) then instructs the money mule (the account owner) to deplete the funds from his/her account via ATM cash withdrawals, POS debit purchases, P2P payments, and in-branch over-the-counter cash withdrawals.