01/31/2025

BioCatch puts spotlight on money mule problem, biometric solution

Biometric Update

Money mules move money, knowingly or not, for criminal enterprise. They can be students, or people in financial straits; they can be offered easy money, or tricked into being the conduits for money laundering. And they are everywhere.

According to a new report from BioCatch, money laundering through mules has reached epidemic levels. The behavioral biometrics firm’s 257 customers in the financial sector identified and reported almost 2 million bad mule accounts in 2024.

“The tip-of-the-iceberg metaphor is tired and overused,” says BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock, in a release. “But these 2 million mule accounts our customers reported in 2024 likely represent only a fraction of the money laundering accounts either in use or lying dormant within the world’s 44,000 financial institutions last year.”