CHENNAI: We’ve all heard of mules as beasts of burden and as the proxies of smugglers who take the rap after a drug bust, including the Trumped-up raisons d’être for the US president-elect’s 3,201km fantasy wall along the Mexican border. But good old maids as mules for unaccounted cash? Well, only in demonetised India.Unlike the earlier preponderance of hawala operators, maids are now the targets of hoarders looking for avenues to dispose of black money in currency the Centre has made made invalid. And the government’s drive toward financial inclusion has unwittingly played into the hands of money launderers, with a tidy amount landing up in Jan Dhan bank accounts.Maids, drivers and manual workers of all kind are in demand, with hoarders of black money attempting to temporarily offload cash in their bank accounts. They offer these new-age mules commissions of up to 20% as a reward for their assistance.Take Anjali Ramkumar , for instance, whose landlord approached her to salvage part of the several lakhs of rupees he had to account for. He handed Ramkumar Rs 10,000 in cash for the maid to deposit in her recently opened Jan Dhan bank account. The deal was simple enough: After a month, she’ll be able to take home a 10% cut of the sum and return the rest to her landlord.“If I can earn Rs 1,000 by helping my house owner, why not? I need to stay in his house for as long as I can,” she said. “I can always do with the extra money too.”Another maid, C Saraswathi, who works in an apartment complex in Koyambedu, received an offer of seven months’ salary in advance from her employer who was trying to siphon off fat wads of now-invalid notes that he found himself saddled with. Saraswathi said he had approached other maids working in the building to exchange demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for a commission.Maids in Virugambakkam said local politicos had urged them to deposit Rs 10,000 in their bank accounts and return Rs 8,000 a week later.“They initially claimed that the offer was exclusively for members of women’s self-help groups,” a maid said, asking this correspondent not to divulge her name. “But now they say the scheme is open to anyone who deposits the cash in savings accounts,” she said. “If more than one person in a family is willing to be part of the scheme, they promise a commission of Rs 2,500 for Rs 10,000.”Businessmen in Mylapore and some other localities in the city appear to be a little more generous. Apart from the commission, they’re offering prospective money mules interest on six- to eight-month deposits.A relative of an Anna Nagar maid’s employer asked her to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh in her two bank accounts for an indefinite period. She agreed after consulting her husband. The clincher: She will receive all the interest that accrues from the deposits plus a commission from the principal amount.