FraudSMART reveals €7 million laundered through money mule accounts in Ireland

According to Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, over seven million euro was laundered through money mule accounts in Ireland in the 12 months to June 2026. The figures come from FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative run by BPFI, and are paired with new survey research into how many young people are being approached to let their bank accounts be used this way.

A money mule account is a personal bank account used to receive and move stolen money or other proceeds of crime, usually in exchange for cash or a gift. FraudSMART members report that most identified mule accounts belong to people aged 18 to 34, with some cases involving children as young as 14.

What the survey found

Forty-four percent of 18 to 34 year olds say they have been approached, or know someone who has been approached, to use their account this way. That figure was 24% in the 2025 survey. Across all adults, 21% report the same, up from 13% a year earlier. For the 25 to 34 age group specifically, the share more than doubled, from 20% to 43%.

More than one in three 18 to 34 year olds say they would consider letting their account be used in exchange for payment. Among 18 to 24 year olds that figure is 37%; among 25 to 34 year olds it is 35%. Men are almost twice as likely as women to say they would consider it, 20% compared with 12%.

Awareness of the consequences is lowest in the youngest group surveyed. Almost a third of 18 to 24 year olds, 31%, did not know that money muling could leave them with a criminal record. Forty percent did not know it could affect their ability to get a travel or work visa.

Why this counts as a result, not just a warning

Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime at BPFI, says recruiters target young adults through social media, messaging apps, fake job adverts and peer-to-peer contact, dressing the approach up as a legitimate opportunity for quick or easy money. What the year-on-year numbers show is that the recruitment side of money laundering has grown faster than public awareness of its consequences. The approach rate nearly doubled in a single year, while knowledge of the legal and visa risks stayed flat among the people most likely to be asked.

That gap is what FraudSMART's campaign is built to close. Publishing the comparison year on year gives banks, schools and parents a measurable target: not just telling people muling is illegal, but telling them specifically that a criminal record and a blocked visa application are realistic outcomes, not distant ones.

Anyone who thinks they have been approached to let their account be used this way, or who has already done so, can get guidance through FraudSMART, the BPFI-led initiative that publishes this research and runs the public awareness campaign.