New research into money laundering has found that young people, and international students in particular, are being targeted as money mules. For regulated firms, the findings raise questions about how student customers should feature in AML risk assessments.
Money mules have always been central to the financial crime ecosystem. Criminal groups need access to apparently legitimate bank accounts through which they can receive and transfer criminal proceeds, and young people, particularly international students, are an attractive target.
New research by Professor Nic Ryder of Cardiff University and Dr Samantha Mapston of the University of the West of England examines the relationship between education, money laundering and law enforcement. Based on police data, Freedom of Information requests and interviews with law enforcement, it identifies students as a population particularly vulnerable to recruitment as money mules.
The scale of the wider problem is considerable. The NCA estimates that around £10 billion is laundered through money mules in the UK each year out of £325 billion a year. Home Office data found that 65% of accounts reported to the National Fraud Database in connection with money mule activity belonged to people under 30. FCA figures reported in 2025 identifying 225,000 people as money mules, a 23% increase on the previous year.
Why students are vulnerable as money mules
The researchers obtained data from 35 police forces showing that between January 2020 and January 2025, 8,956 people aged 18 to 29 and 776 people under 18 were recorded as being involved in money laundering offences. While not all of these are students, the figures illustrate how prominent younger adults are within recorded money laundering activity.
Law enforcement interviewees viewed students as both likely to be targeted and particularly vulnerable to recruitment. Student bank accounts were considered attractive to organised crime groups. International students often have few social networks, and may be unfamiliar with the local rules. As temporary residents, they may also be less conscious of the consequences of such actions. There are also some cases where individuals are groomed or coerced without fully understanding the consequences. Therefore, international students can be uniquely vulnerable to exploitation.
Social media plays a significant role. The report highlighted recruitment of money mules through direct messages, fake job advertisements and encrypted messaging services. For some young people, what initially appears to be easy money or legitimate work can quickly involve receiving and transferring criminal proceeds.
The additional risk around international students
The report considers international students to be at greater risk of becoming involved in money laundering, with particular concerns raised about some students arriving from Asia and India. Some international students are targeted almost immediately after arriving in the UK.
The attractiveness of this population to criminals is obvious. An international student may have recently opened a UK bank account, be unfamiliar with the UK financial system, need employment or additional income, and have fewer established local support networks. Criminal recruitment can exploit precisely those circumstances.
Should regulated firms treat international students as high risk?
Regulated firms should pay closer attention to international students as a population with a potentially elevated exposure to money mule activity. That does not mean treating student status or nationality as determinative, however it may be worth asking whether existing customer risk models give enough weight to the circumstances that can make this group more vulnerable.
Those circumstances may include a newly opened UK account, limited familiarity with the UK financial system, relatively low or irregular legitimate income, sudden incoming payments, rapid onward transfers and activity that does not fit the customer’s expected financial profile. Where several of these factors appear together, firms may have stronger grounds for enhanced scrutiny.
Some international students may also be at risk of exploitation rather than acting as willing participants in organised crime. That should influence how suspicious activity is assessed and escalated, particularly where there are indicators of grooming, coercion or recruitment through social media and fake job offers.
For firms with significant numbers of younger or international customers, this may justify a more specific risk lens around money muling. Transaction monitoring rules, customer risk assessments, staff training and escalation procedures should all be tested against the patterns associated with student mule activity.
The wider point is that international students could represent a meaningful AML risk category when combined with other behavioural and transactional indicators. Firms should be able to identify that risk without relying on blunt demographic assumptions, and should consider whether their current controls are calibrated to detect it.
New research into money laundering has found that young people, and international students in particular, are being targeted as money mules. For regulated firms, the findings raise questions about how student customers should feature in AML risk assessments.
Money mules have always been central to the financial crime ecosystem. Criminal groups need access to apparently legitimate bank accounts through which they can receive and transfer criminal proceeds, and young people, particularly international students, are an attractive target.
New research by Professor Nic Ryder of Cardiff University and Dr Samantha Mapston of the University of the West of England examines the relationship between education, money laundering and law enforcement. Based on police data, Freedom of Information requests and interviews with law enforcement, it identifies students as a population particularly vulnerable to recruitment as money mules.
The scale of the wider problem is considerable. The NCA estimates that around £10 billion is laundered through money mules in the UK each year out of £325 billion a year. Home Office data found that 65% of accounts reported to the National Fraud Database in connection with money mule activity belonged to people under 30. FCA figures reported in 2025 identifying 225,000 people as money mules, a 23% increase on the previous year.
Why students are vulnerable as money mules
The researchers obtained data from 35 police forces showing that between January 2020 and January 2025, 8,956 people aged 18 to 29 and 776 people under 18 were recorded as being involved in money laundering offences. While not all of these are students, the figures illustrate how prominent younger adults are within recorded money laundering activity.
Law enforcement interviewees viewed students as both likely to be targeted and particularly vulnerable to recruitment. Student bank accounts were considered attractive to organised crime groups. International students often have few social networks, and may be unfamiliar with the local rules. As temporary residents, they may also be less conscious of the consequences of such actions. There are also some cases where individuals are groomed or coerced without fully understanding the consequences. Therefore, international students can be uniquely vulnerable to exploitation.
Social media plays a significant role. The report highlighted recruitment of money mules through direct messages, fake job advertisements and encrypted messaging services. For some young people, what initially appears to be easy money or legitimate work can quickly involve receiving and transferring criminal proceeds.
The additional risk around international students
The report considers international students to be at greater risk of becoming involved in money laundering, with particular concerns raised about some students arriving from Asia and India. Some international students are targeted almost immediately after arriving in the UK.
The attractiveness of this population to criminals is obvious. An international student may have recently opened a UK bank account, be unfamiliar with the UK financial system, need employment or additional income, and have fewer established local support networks. Criminal recruitment can exploit precisely those circumstances.
Should regulated firms treat international students as high risk?
Regulated firms should pay closer attention to international students as a population with a potentially elevated exposure to money mule activity. That does not mean treating student status or nationality as determinative, however it may be worth asking whether existing customer risk models give enough weight to the circumstances that can make this group more vulnerable.
Those circumstances may include a newly opened UK account, limited familiarity with the UK financial system, relatively low or irregular legitimate income, sudden incoming payments, rapid onward transfers and activity that does not fit the customer’s expected financial profile. Where several of these factors appear together, firms may have stronger grounds for enhanced scrutiny.
Some international students may also be at risk of exploitation rather than acting as willing participants in organised crime. That should influence how suspicious activity is assessed and escalated, particularly where there are indicators of grooming, coercion or recruitment through social media and fake job offers.
For firms with significant numbers of younger or international customers, this may justify a more specific risk lens around money muling. Transaction monitoring rules, customer risk assessments, staff training and escalation procedures should all be tested against the patterns associated with student mule activity.
The wider point is that international students could represent a meaningful AML risk category when combined with other behavioural and transactional indicators. Firms should be able to identify that risk without relying on blunt demographic assumptions, and should consider whether their current controls are calibrated to detect it.
