Criminals are using social media to find and pay cash-strapped students, as young as 14, to hide or launder stolen money in their bank accounts.

Thousands of young people have been targeted by fraudsters offering hundreds of pounds to use them as "money mules".

Rochelle, who was coerced into money muling at the age of 15, explains what it's like to be approached online and why she was drawn into the committing a crime.

Someone messaged me on Instagram: "Do you wanna make some money?"

There must be hundreds of these pages on the app and when one adds you, so many others do the same.


It makes it feel normal and lots of my friends were talking about it, some of them were even doing it.

When I got the message it was tempting. On the Instagram account you could see all these receipts and posts about people taking the money out of the bank or messages from their clients saying thank you.

Looking back, it doesn't look realistic at all but when you're young you are vulnerable and really gullible as well.

I had nothing in my bank account, I figured I really had nothing to lose. They couldn't steal any of my money - I had none.

It seemed easy. They said I wouldn't have to do much. I would just give them my card and they'd put money on it. How much money depended on what bank I was with but I'd get a percentage of it.

They might say: "You're with Barclays, so we'll put in £10,000 and you'd get 40%, all you have to do is give us your card.

"If it does go wrong your account will get blocked and you can just go with another bank or say you don't recognise the transactions."

Image: Rochelle ended up with a blocked bank card

I believed them more because they told me there was a risk. If it had been all rainbows and flowers, you'll get £10,000 and everything will be fine, you'll get your card back - then maybe I wouldn't have believed it.

But they seemed quite genuine and I was desperate at the time. It seemed like easy money.

So I gave them my card.

Two days later nothing had happened but on the third day they said there was trouble and gave me some excuses. This lasted another week. Every time I tried to back out, they were really persistent.

Eventually they said they had put £1,000 in my account and they asked me to take it out and give it to them. They said I'd get my percentage later.

I found it very confusing. I think they would confuse you so much to the point that you'd not know what was going on.

The money did go in my account - but went straight out. They acted like something had gone wrong in the system.

By that point the bank blocked my card. I went into the bank and said I didn't recognise the transaction, but they asked me how someone had all the security information needed to move the money through my account.

By that point, I had to lie. I said I lost my phone which had all my banking information in the notes.

Image: The scam appeared to promise a low-risk way to make money

They didn't believe me - maybe because I was young, maybe because they've seen something like this before.

I ended up blocked and wasn't able to get a new card for a really long time.

I was so worried: How will I tell my mum? What If I can never get another card? Has this messed up my credit score? Will I ever be able to get a mortgage?

I felt really humiliated. I couldn't believe that I had really thought I was going to get this money.

These people on Instagram don't owe me anything. They can take all the money, they don't owe me anything.

My other friends have done it and we've all been scammed. People are afraid to say it didn't work, it's embarrassing.

People don't want to admit they've become a victim.

Instagram say they encourage users to report accounts which appear to be breaking their community guidelines and that any illegal accounts will be removed.