Spanish Mules

Four Spanish ‘mules’ have apparently been arrested in Valladolid, according to an AFP report: Four face charges over phishing fraud :

Four people face charges in Spain after police uncovered an internet banking fraud believed to be conducted by computer experts in Eastern Europe.

However, the four who face charges in Valladolid, in northern Spain, were seen as merely pawns in the scam.

They had been recruited via the internet for “work at home” by “employers” protected by the anonymity of the internet and living in countries “with a weak level of international police and judicial cooperation”, Spanish police said on Wednesday.

The scam was conducted by “people from different countries, mainly Eastern Europe” who were well qualified in computer science and foreign languages, they said.

The recruits were offered jobs as intermediaries in “international money transfers” with remuneration in the form of a percentage of the transfers.

Nothing much surprising in there, but shows the same tactics are being used.