Case Explained: How the rise of ‘mules’ has upended the fight against financial crime — Capital Brief – Legal Perspective

Former Victorian cop and cyber safety consultant Susan McLean has seen her fair share of trouble during her career, but even she has been shocked by the boom of so-called ‘mule accounts’ being used to profit from crime.

“I’ve been in this space for 30 years but it’s only in the last year or so that this sheer volume of mule accounts has really hit my radar. It blew me away,” McLean said.

The worrisome trend is exploding in Australia as crime syndicates buy and sell bank accounts to shift their profits and keep one step ahead of law enforcement. The big banks are worried about it and financial crime fighters are struggling to keep up, with Austrac even identifying it as a key part of its high-profile investigation into Airwallex.

“Last year we had a good look across the entire payment platforms sector because we were concerned about exposure to a range of risks including money mules and payments for child sexual exploitation material,” Austrac chief executive Brendan Thomas told Capital Brief.