Police arrest 11 suspected money mules and couriers in October

Latvia’s State Police arrested 11 suspected money mules and couriers in October, detaining people who allegedly collected cash and bank cards from victims of cyber fraud, misused others’ payment instruments and laundered criminal proceeds, LSM reported.

The people arrested included young people, some of them underage or only recently adults, as well as a pension-age man suspected of committing offences abroad.

On October 14, the State Police’s Cybercrime Combating Department detained a courier born in 1959. Police said an organised criminal group had hired him to collect cash from victims and deliver it to addresses provided by a group member. He received instructions by phone or through messaging apps and also transported money outside Latvia.

The man said he had been offered a job at a foreign company. He had never met the employer, and all communication had taken place remotely. His duties involved collecting and transporting cash belonging to other people.

Police said several people had invested money in a fraudulent investment platform in July after seeing misleading social media advertisements. The ads used AI-generated videos and images that appeared to show public officials promoting profitable investment opportunities.

The Cybercrime Combating Department also detained four suspected money mules in October. In a separate case, a man born in 1976 and his wife reported that phone scammers had defrauded them of 67,690 euros and three bank cards between October 12 and 14. The callers first posed as bank employees and later as police officers, claiming there was criminal activity in the couple’s account and that someone was trying to take out a loan in their name. They told the couple to hand over cash and bank cards to prevent criminals from accessing them. The victims used parcel lockers in an attempt to comply with the instructions.