Kids turned into ‘money mules’ by online scammers who take over bank accounts

Children as young as 10 are being trained to spot the techniques of online scam artists, as the government tries to tackle vile ‘money mules’ who take control of their bank accounts.

Fraudsters have been found to approach kids online with tantalising offers that require them to send over money or bank details, before turning them into an unwitting accessory to their crimes.

This may mean depositing a large amount of cash for a period of time, then leaving a small percentage as a ‘gift’ for the recipient – who might not realise they’ve played a part in a laundering scheme.

As a consequence, their bank account can be blocked indefinitely and they can even face prosecution.

According to the latest statistics, one in five ‘money muling’ incidents in the UK last year involved somebody under the age of 21.

Meanwhile, almost one in 25 suspected money mules that the Financial Conduct Authority dealt with in 2025 were under the age of 18.

To help combat the crime, a new lesson on financial exploitation is being rolled out to schools across England after being developed by police in the south-west.

The goal is to get children wise to the kinds of tricks that may be pulled by criminals who want to take advantage of them.

Metro was welcomed into a classroom at Gainsborough Primary School in east London to watch one of the first lessons take place.

Teacher Andrew Miles gave the lesson to pupils in years 5 and 6 (Picture: Jed Bradley)

In front of a group of impressively attentive 10 and 11-year-olds, teacher Andrew Miles explained the definition of the word ‘exploitation’ and asked the pupils to split into pairs and discuss what ‘financial exploitation’ might mean.

After handing out sheets of paper with three cartoon faces on them, he told the kids to consider the warning signs in the stories attached to each of them.

In one example, Farrah was a gamer who was messaged by a stranger online. Following a short time playing together, the stranger said they would send her money as a thank-you and asked for her bank details.

The class agreed this sounded fishy, and that Farrah should let a trusted adult know what was going on.

Jordan Coates, fraud and cyber protect co-ordinator at South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, was one of the police officers behind the lesson plan.

Young pupils are being warned not to trust strangers reaching out to them online (Picture: Getty Images)

She told Metro: ‘It’s a full package, start to finish, where we have open safe discussions, there’s support available, there’s different communication styles to deliver it in.

‘Hopefully by the end of it, these pupils come away feeling empowered to stand up and challenge inappropriate behaviour, say hang on a minute, no, I’m not comfortable with this contact and seek that support.

‘My hope at the end of this is that no child ever faces the harm that we see from this criminality.’

Four bespoke lesson plans, tailored to different key stages for students between the ages of 10 and 18, were made available nationally yesterday.

Teachers, parents and carers will also get information on different types of scams, telling them how to spot the warning signs and where support can be accessed if a child tells them something worrying.

Gainsborough Primary executive principal Barb Sims said: ‘I think it was an excellent lesson. Andrew did really well, and the content was well-pitched, so I think they’ve taken a lot from it.

‘At the end, where children were able to feed back and say what they remembered from it, they’d all gone away with lots of new information, which is really good.’

Also watching the lesson from the front of the classroom was Lord Hanson, the minister for fraud, who is overseeing the rollout of the government’s Fraud Strategy after it was published in March.

He said: ‘What we’re trying to do is to give people preparation.

‘The online world is a very good space, but it also potentially has some dangers and therefore, the earlier we get resilient, understanding of the potential difficulties, it’s really important for young people to do that.’

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