Tens of thousands of Bermuda residents are in danger of being duped into laundering money for fraudsters, according to the top fraud expert at HSBC Bank Bermuda.Raphael Simons, who heads the security and fraud risk department for the bank, says people here are being recruited as unwitting “money mules” who allow their own accounts to be used to disguise the proceeds of crime.And he says, the lonely and the unemployed could be especially vulnerable.Money mules are often recruited by fraudsters to receive money into their bank accounts, then withdraw the money and wire it overseas. It’s classic money laundering, only the “mule” typically doesn’t realise what he or she has done until it’s too late.It’s a crime that’s been escalating in the US and UK and Bermuda has not been immune.“It’s a problem here in Bermuda across all banking institutions and a problem globally,” Mr Simons said. “There are so many different approaches and so many different types of these mule scams or stories — everything from work from home scams to romantic scams where people actually think they’re in love with people.”“Right now, the more prominent ones we’re seeing are the romantic scams, or the ‘sweetheart scams’ as we call them and most of them start through social media. The approaches come via Facebook which come by marriage sites,” Mr Simons said.What typically happens, Mr Simons says, is the fraudsters contact you through Facebook or other social media sites wanting to be your friend. They’ll start to chat up either their male or female mark with just basic questions. But then the fraudster will start to give some sort of story.“That story that we’ve seen is — ‘I’m an architect. I’m recently divorced. I don’t have much family. The divorce was quite bitter and it’s left me in financial ruin. I can’t open up accounts.’ — so they start to sort of lead the person into all this and then they sort of pull back just a bit and say, ‘You know what, I’d really like to come see Bermuda one day because I actually do work there from afar and I have someone out there that I’m doing work for currently.”“Then a few days later they’ll say, ‘Hey remember I told you I did work in Bermuda? My boss needs to pay me — would you mind accepting money into your account and sending it to me?’”But the money being transferred is stolen, often as a result of fraud on other bank accounts or credit cards. It’s paid into the money mule’s account, which disguises where is comes from. The mule is then asked to transfer it to an account in an overseas bank or to wire it via Western Union.Mr Simons says he’s seen a variety of victims who’ve been duped into laundering funds.“What’s interesting is it crosses all boundaries — through all age groups, through all sexes, races, creeds, what have you — people fall for it,” he said.“Everything from someone who may be a delivery person to people who have law degrees, doctorates and the rest of it. I have seen just everything across the entire spectrum of people who have fallen victim to it locally.”Mr Simons says the problem is, desperate people do desperate things or are conned into believing the online relationship and money transferring are legitimate.“You’ve got so many people out there, both men and women in any age rage who are just looking for companionship,” he said. “So, I think especially on the male side — all of a sudden, you get a message from someone on Facebook and they’re drop-dead gorgeous. First thing the guy says is, ‘Oh, new friend … add!’ Next thing you know, the person’s saying, ‘Send me your BlackBerry Messenger PIN or your phone number so I can contact you on What’sApp.’ And these people think, ‘Oh my goodness, I have this absolutely drop-dead gorgeous woman into me’ and that’s how the conversations start.”Victims of the sweetheart form of the scam are often rewarded by the fraudster.“They’ll say, ‘I’m expecting $10,000, send me $9,000 and keep $1,000 for yourself — go by yourself something nice cause I want you to look real nice when I come to see you,’” Mr Simons said.Another form of money mule scams preys on students, the unemployed and other jobseekers who are looking for work.In the job-seeker version of the scam, victims are enticed to apply for seemingly simple, often ‘work-from-home’ jobs through fake advertisements.The fraudsters contact you through mass e-mails or from details on a CV posted online. Then comes what looks like a legitimate job offer, but in fact, it’s to channel cash for their crimes from your bank account — making you their money mule.People who accept the phoney job offer are then asked to receive money into their bank account and transfer it to another account, keeping a cut for themselves as pay for the ‘job’.There’s such concern about the danger of becoming a money mule that Crimestoppers and banks everywhere are warning people around the world not to become duped into becoming involved.Another form of the scam can come through sites like eMoo. Fraudsters approach a seller saying they’re interested in purchasing an item, but are overseas and would like to transfer them the money for it.“An item that was used a lot was cribs and beds and things like that,” Mr Simons said. “So if it was selling for $500, the fraudster will transfer $5,000 and they’ll say, you know, I made a mistake, my apologies, please keep the $500, plus another $100 for your effort and send me the rest via Western Union. That was a really, really big thing.”“The only plus side on that one, if you will, is that the victim never lost the item because they weren’t asking for the item to be shipped. They were purely being used to facilitate the movement of the funds from the compromised account,” he said.Mr Simons says the scam comes in many forms and preys on victims of all kinds — no matter where they bank.“We see a fair amount of cases. Probably no more or less than any other of our competitors,” Mr Simons said. “The sweetheart scams we’re definitely seeing. We’re definitely seeing work from home scams, but of late, we’re seeing more sweetheart scams than work from home.”Mr Simons says whether it’s a romantic interest or a job offer people should practice caution when it comes to their finances. And, he adds, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.“That’s the obvious bit of advice,” he said. “Just be wary of new approaches from people that you don’t know wanting to be your friend. And whilst I stop short of saying you should just shun everyone, if you decide to befriend people, always be wary when they start asking you about your finances or telling you about their finances and asking you to accept money on their behalf.”