Recession a boom for online scams

The current economic downturn has created a mini-boom for at least one class of online scammers: Criminals who trick consumers into opening new bank accounts and becoming money laundering "mules" as part of those unavoidable work-at-home scams.

The scam is unlike the infamous Nigerian fraud, which tricks you into giving up your bank account information, then promptly drains it of funds. Rather, these scams offer you the chance to "work at home" and convince you to open a new bank account in your name. That account is then used to receive anonymous payments, which you are asked to forward on to overseas recipients in exchange for a small cut of the funds as a fee. The money received is usually legitimate -- all the better to entice you to keep acting as a middleman on these payments.

The problem is that the sender and ultimate recipient of the money are engaged in various crimes, but since you're stuck in the middle, you're actually guilty of facilitating the deal. And since you're the only person in the bunch who lives on U.S. soil, you're the one that's most likely to be prosecuted when the scam unravels.

These scams are dramatically on the rise, preying on people's fears of losing their job or running out of money: One study showed a 33 percent increase in money-laundering recruitment websites in the first half of the year over 2007, and another showed that both work-at-home spam and its overall success rate have now hit all-time highs.

As usual, common sense is your best ally when it comes to avoiding being scammed. Remember that all work-at-home come-ons are fraudulent and likely involve criminal activity for which you can be arrested. The linked AP story also notes to be wary of any advertised job with a title in the vein of "international sales representative" or "shipping manager." And of course, any job offer that comes to you unsolicited and/or from a person you don't already know is likely to be phony.