The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory today to alert financial institutions to potential indicators of imposter scams and money mule schemes, which are two forms of consumer fraud observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The advisory contains descriptions of these scams and schemes, financial red flag indicators for both, and information on reporting suspicious activity.
The advisory is based on FinCEN's analysis of COVID-19-related information obtained from Bank Secrecy Act data, open source reporting, and law enforcement partners. FinCEN will issue COVID-19-related information to financial institutions to help enhance their efforts to detect, prevent, and report suspected illicit activity on its website at https://www.fincen.gov/coronavirus.
Read the advisory here.