Incognia | How money mule activity involving account handover is escalating — and what financial institutions must do to detect it, stop it, and stay compliant.

Mule account handover fraud is growing and outpacing the industry’s ability to detect it, according to a survey of more than 500 fraud, risk, and anti-money-laundering professionals across the United States and Europe.

Money mule accounts are harder to spot than traditional fraud accounts. Why? They start as legitimate accounts opened by real people using their own data. Then they’re taken over. Some account holders are coerced or manipulated, others are willing participants. By the time scammers have control, the account has already cleared standard detection.

Key findings:

81% report an increase in mule account handovers over the past 12 months
53% say detecting mule account handovers is more difficult than most other fraud types.
16% of institutions catch mule account handovers before any suspicious transactions occur
65% have confirmed or suspect account control or usage shifted to outside our primary operating country

Learn More:

Full article: The State of Mule Account Handovers in 2026

Watch Erin West’s interview with Incognia CEO André Ferraz to learn about money mules, location detection, and the fraud industry targeting Brazil.