Prosecutor General Abbas Shareef stated today that the decision has been made to prosecute cases involving handing over bank accounts and cards to others for use in committing financial crimes.
Prosecutor General Abbas told "Mihaaru" that the decision to prosecute those renting out or giving their accounts for use by others was made because such cases are currently becoming common.
"Once the police finish investigating and send them (to the PG Office), we will review on a case-by-case basis and press charges," Abbas said.
He stated that if it is known that bank accounts and cards were given to others with the knowledge that a crime was being committed, charges will be pressed.
Abbas said it has been noted that other people's accounts are also being used in cases of exchanging dollars above the set rate as well as in scam cases, and because this issue has now grown severe, the decision was made to press charges.
"It is heavily noted in scam cases as well that other people's accounts are being used. That money is being circulated through accounts belonging to someone other than the person committing the act; therefore, the intention now is to seriously review those cases and press charges," Abbas said.
Sharing further details on the matter, the PG Office stated that renting out or giving accounts for use by others will be considered an act of facilitating or aiding the offense of money laundering.
According to the office, acting as a "money mule" inherently involves transacting suspicious funds or serving as an intermediary in money layering. The PG Office also stated that claiming not to know how the money was obtained or not knowing that the funds were connected to a crime will not remove reasonable grounds for suspicion.
"For example, if an account or card is given to another person to use—whether for rent or otherwise—and an illegal act is committed through that card, in a situation where an act of money laundering is committed through the card, charges of encouraging, facilitating, or participating in an act of money laundering can be brought against the owner of the card," an official from the PG Office said.
"In that situation, the account owner cannot say 'I didn't know, I had rented out my account.' They cannot escape by saying that. Therefore, we will continue taking action in cases where accounts are rented out and given for use in that manner."
According to the office, this act is recognized as a tactic used by perpetrators of criminal offenses to launder money.
The PG Office said that even in situations where money is deposited into a person's account in scam cases, they will not be able to escape by claiming that the account was given to someone else to use.
"Saying 'that isn't an account I use, I gave the card to someone else.' Even in that situation, we will hold the owner of that account responsible. We will also press charges against that party and make them return the money. Going forward as well, we will continue taking action in money laundering cases in that exact manner."
Lately, advertisements stating things like "renting bank accounts" or "give your account to make easy money" have been posted on various social media platforms, especially on TikTok and Telegram.
The Anti-Scam Centre has also stated that an account is a personal item, and a bank account, its PIN, and OTP are not things that should be given to anyone else.
Police also reminded that renting out bank cards or accounts facilitates major crimes such as money laundering, and could result in criminal prosecution and deprivation of banking services.
While issues of renting out bank cards and accounts have surfaced, national bank BML also previously stated that issues had been noted regarding unauthorized transactions being conducted using the dollar limits of its cards.
An issue also surfaced last year where a single individual took more than 100 cards to a foreign country and withdrew foreign currency.
