THE rising number of cases involving Malaysian women becoming international drug couriers or drug mules for international drug smuggling syndicates is quite alarming. At the last count, there are 37 Malaysians convicted or awaiting trial for drug related crimes in southern Guangdong and Fujian provinces in China with several others held more in prisons in various countries.

A drug mule is someone who smuggles illegal drugs – either knowingly or unknowingly – across a national border into a foreign country. The organisers mainly employ mules to reduce the risk of getting caught themselves, while often profiting the most. The mule typically gets paid an amount which is small compared with the profit, but large for somebody with little money, so that it seems to him or her an easy way to make money although their very lives are at stake if caught.

In the case of 24-year old Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim who is facing the death sentence for drug trafficking in southern China, an Internet advertisement for a lucrative courier job was the lure for her to agree to the job.

However, one does not need to leave the comforts of one’s home to be involved in international syndicates and become a mule. Just by agreeing to be part of an Internet scheme, work as a telecommuter or get recruited on an online pyramid programme, one can become a money mule in a money laundering chain.

So what is a money mule exactly? According to UK-based Bank Safe Online project, a money mule is a person who transfers money and reships high value goods that have been fraudulently obtained in one country, usually via the Internet, to another country, usually where the perpetrator of the fraud lives.

Money mules are recruited by fraudsters through a variety of methods, including spam e-mails, adverts on genuine recruitment Web sites, approaches to people with their CVs available online, instant messaging and adverts in newspapers. Money mules will receive funds into their accounts and they then withdraw the money and send it overseas using a wire transfer service, minus a certain commission payment.

According to Bank Safe Online, although the prospect of making some easy money may appear attractive, any “commission” payments will be recovered as they are the proceeds of fraud and the money mule may become embroiled in a police investigation. The money mule will be the easiest part of the chain to track down.

So, even if the money mule has nothing to do with the actual extraction of funds from another person’s account, by allowing his or her account to be used to receive and transfer such funds, he or she will be acting illegally.

Either way, there is no easy way to get cash. Be cautious about any unsolicited offers or opportunities offering the chance to make some easy money.

Take steps to verify any company which makes you a job offer and check their contact details and whether they are registered. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Have a Merry Christmas!