Foley doubles down on warnings over teen money mules

NORMA Foley has doubled down on her concerns about teenage money mules with a further warning that children as young as 12 are being lured into a life of crime for as little as €100.

Last week it was revealed that Education Minister Ms Foley had written to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to express concerns about the rising use of schoolchildren as mules – and even offered to help gardaí with an information campaign.

Ms Foley warned it is a nationwide problem, telling the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Today the reach of the internet extends into every parish, village, town and city.’

In 2021, it was revealed gardaí had identified more than 50 young people in and around one Co. Kerry town who were recruited as money mules for an international crime syndicate.

The recruiter was an Irish teenager who had convinced his peers to allow their bank accounts to be used to receive money from fraud crimes.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Ms Foley said: ‘I wrote to the Garda Commissioner about this because I do not want to see students being duped into becoming money mules. Students need to know to steer clear if someone is offering them €100 or €200 just to use their bank account. These crimes are also devastating for victims and their families because they can lose huge amounts of money.’

In the letter seen by the Irish Daily Mail, Ms Foley informed the Commissioner she was ‘writing to you in relation to the ongoing Garda operations to combat money laundering’. Ms Foley commended the ‘work of investigating gardaí who have helped to uncover the criminal gangs engaged in financial fraud [and their] success in tracking down t he “money mules” criminals are using to launder proceeds of their crimes through bank accounts’.

But she added: ‘As Minister for Education, I was concerned to learn that some of these “money mules” are students in secondary schools. Many young people may not be aware they are being dragged into laundering [and] young people could be vulnerable to being recruited in person or on social media or messaging apps.’

Calling for a public information campaign, Ms Foley said: ‘I would like to reduce as much as possible the risk of young people being duped into becoming money mules by these criminal gangs. This could have a devastating impact on their lives, i ncluding employment and travel prospects, if it were to lead to a criminal conviction. Providing the right information in an appropriate way to students could help prevent this.’