I almost moved "company" money. It wasn't company money.

A remote “employer” I found online said they would use my account for payroll and vendor payments because their main bank was “slow to set up overseas.”

The pay sounded ordinary, not flashy, which made the setup feel boring enough to be real.

They emailed wire instructions: receive transfers or deposit cheques, then send the funds to “suppliers” and “clients” they named.

I was about to move the first sum when I paused and searched the company name plus money mule.

The search turned up warnings that the “firm” was fake and the money would have been stolen; I would have been the person who moved it and could have faced legal and bank consequences even if I thought I had a job.

Between interviews I had been eager to prove I was reliable, so I almost treated the odd flow as a test instead of a red flag.

When I told them I would only work through the company’s official payroll after calling a number from their real website, the thread stopped and the domain I had been using no longer replied.

I did not lose cash, but I spent weeks worried something had already been queued in my name; reporting to the bank and fraud line gave me a file number and calmed that down.

No real employer asks you to receive money in your personal account and forward it to third parties.

That pattern is a money-mule setup.

• Never accept pay that requires you to pass money through your account to strangers.
• Report recruitment fraud to the FTC (US) or your national consumer fraud body.

For more help, see our Report a scam page and Spot and avoid scams guide.