New warning over children groomed at school gates or online to launder money for criminals THE KID
BRITAIN is in the grip of a fresh child grooming menace – and this time it’s not about sex but cash.
Criminals are using social media to lure kids into laundering stolen money.
A joint Sunday People and We Fight Fraud investigation saw how crooks persuade youngsters to hand over their bank details in exchange for a percentage fee.
Victims are promised a cut of the money that will be deposited and quickly withdrawn.
One 15-year-old boy told the Sunday People how fraudsters tricked him into laundering £6,000 through his account.
They then threatened him when he tried to back out.
Police say kids are also being talked into becoming cash mules outside their school gates.
Head teachers have been forced to send letters to parents warning of the growing fraud.
Up to £2,000 a day is channelled through kids’ bank accounts – making them accessories to the fraudsters’ crimes – in the scam known as deets and squares.
Deets is slang for details and a square is a credit or debit card.
The teenage victim, who we are not naming, said: “One of my friends told me if I gave him my card he could get me some money i n my account.
“I gave him my card along with the sort code, my mother’s maiden name, my address and my phone number.”
His friend later said the card did not work and told him to cancel it. But the criminals had not yet withdrawn all of the £6,710.67 they had paid in.
Soon the teenager started receiving threatening calls from one of the villains.
The schoolboy said: “He told me there was £ 4,700 in the account and he needed to get it all out. He said it was other people’s money. “He said I should go to the bank
the next day to get the money out and said to me, ‘Don’t try any funny business, I’ve got your address and your mum’s maiden name.’
“I said I wouldn’t. I was scared and didn’t know what I’d got into. I went to the cashier at the bank and took out £2,000.”
Scared
After he met the shady character to hand over the cash he was told to withdraw the rest at another branch.
But staff started asking