I loaned a friend £50 and was convicted of money laundering: Mother, 32, reveals how a seemingly harmless mistake led to a police raid and a shadow hanging over her for years

If an old family friend asked to borrow £50 and promised to pay you back, many of us wouldn’t hesitate to help.

But what would you do if, when the friend pays back the loan, you realize that he overpaid you?

Ebony King, 32, found herself in this exact position at the end of her senior year of high school in 2010 — and it led to an astonishing series of events that derailed her life.

By the age of 19, Ebony’s high grades at school had secured her a place at a London university to study psychology.

Her friend paid her back two months later as promised by transferring the money to her account. But when she went to record it, she discovered he had overpaid her by hundreds of pounds.

“I called him right away to let him know,” Ebony says. ‘He said it must have been an accident and could I please take the money out of the bank and give it back to him?

‘I had no doubts about it. I handed him the money and thought that was the end of it.”

Six months passed without incident. But then, out of nowhere, police dramatically raided her mother’s home in Dagenham.

‘There was a loud bang on the door and it was the police looking for me. “I was so shocked and confused,” she says. “They said they were going to arrest me and take me to the station, but I didn’t know what for.”

It turned out that the money sent to her account was the proceeds of an online scam. By leaving the money in her account and having it paid out, Ebony had become a so-called money mule and complicit in the handling of laundered money.

Last week Money Mail revealed the shocking extent to which young people are being recruited to carry out seemingly innocent banking activities for criminals.

Victims are approached by scammers who use clever tricks to gain access to their bank accounts to launder illegal money.

Money transferred to mule accounts can come from fraud or scams, drug trafficking or human trafficking.

In many cases, the unsuspecting mules are told that if they deposit money into their bank account and cash it out or transfer it to another account, they can keep a portion for themselves.

But in other cases, like Ebony’s, victims simply think they are helping a friend.

Even if you do not know that the money you are transferring has been obtained illegally, you could be prosecuted for money laundering.

Ebony was given a criminal record and convicted of concealing, converting, removing and transferring criminal property. Her family friend disappeared and was never charged or convicted.

‘It could have ruined my life. They used me as a scapegoat and pretended that I was the mastermind behind the operation. I was still a teenager,” she says. ‘I was rejected for a job and had bad credit for a very long time. I was lucky and found employers who listened to my story and understood what had happened.’

Ebony, who is telling her story for the first time today, says she now has the confidence to speak out because her criminal record has finally been cleared twelve years later.

She found work as a patient advisor in the NHS and has had three children.

But she says she couldn’t trust close friends for a long time.

“I found it really hard to trust anyone after it happened and I didn’t want to have a bank account,” she says.

In 2019, she founded the charity ElevateHer in Barking and Dagenham, East London, to provide support to vulnerable teenage girls and young women.

She now works with Snapchat and Barclays to raise awareness about money mules and goes into schools to educate students about the risks. Convictions for ‘money muling’ can lead to a prison sentence of up to 14 years in the most extreme cases. However, most mules who did not know what they were involved in are not convicted.

Ross Martin, head of digital security at Barclays, said: ‘Ebony’s story is unfortunately all too common. Never accept money into your account if you don’t know where it came from. If you have already received money and are not sure where it came from, do not send it to anyone else and contact your bank immediately.

Ebony went on to study psychology and counseling at the University of East London and eventually graduated. ‘I didn’t let it stop me. And I know so many young people today who are facing this risk, so I wanted to help them,” she says.

How Social Media Traps Your Kids

Social media platforms have opened the floodgates for criminals to recruit money mules. They advertise ways to make money easily by using images of bank accounts with high balances to attract people.

They also create duplicate social media profiles to pose as users and trick their friends into allowing their bank accounts to be used.

Stop Money Mail The Social Media Scammers campaign is calling on tech giants to introduce stricter ID verification to prevent fraudsters from setting up accounts so easily.

The most common way a money mule is contacted is via Instagram, according to Lloyds Bank. Fraudsters then move the conversation to the messaging app WhatsApp, also owned by tech giant Meta.

Liz Ziegler, director of fraud prevention at the bank, says: ‘Normally the mule is instructed to transfer money from the bank account to currency platforms (which ask few questions), where the recruiters collect the money.’

Over the past year, Ebony has spoken to hundreds of local children aged 12 and over who were involved in money-slinging.

She says: “It’s so much worse these days because young people are being targeted on social media platforms.”

‘Young people have a lot of trust online and that makes them easier targets. It is also a cashless society, meaning fewer questions about bank transfers.

‘They are afraid to tell their parents that they need the money for something and see this as an easy way to get money.’

One in five Barclays customers who fell victim to money mule scams were under the age of 21. It is therefore crucial that young people and their parents or guardians are aware of the warning signs, says Mr Martin.

Learn the warning signs

Nicola Harding, from We Fight Fraud and professor of criminology at Lancaster University, says the traditional method for criminals to recruit mules is an easy way to make money.

People who become victims often have a bond with the person who binds them to it, creating a false sense of legitimacy.

However, in many cases the mule gets entangled when trying to act fairly. ‘Criminals often buy something on an online trading platform such as Facebook Marketplace and then send too much money.

“They then request a refund to their bank account and provide new account information for the transfer,” she says.

“Most people send the extra money back because it’s the right and fair thing to do. You would have to be very wise to realize that it is a scam. They have built trust because you have their money.”

In other cases, scammers take control of the person’s bank account and don’t need any help to make the transfer.

If you are concerned that a child you know is involved in money abuse, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. If you have become involved, call Crimestoppers, the police, your bank and Action Fraud, says Ms Harding .

j.beard@dailymail.co.uk