Nowadays, a lot of attractive job offers appear on advertising portals, which in fact turn out to be economic crimes. They all are similar: easy, well paid, no experience required, usually in an online shop. Most often, the only requirement is to have an active bank account, which should already be disturbing to us. The job is about transferring the money received to our account further (bank transfer or BLIK payment). The employer contacts us, indicating the address to which we have to send the given amount of money by transfer through the internet account, BLIK payment or post transfer. Despite the fact that this procedure immediately seems doubtful, we can be blinded by good conditions and great earnings. In this case, we take part in the process of money laundering that comes from theft, extortion or fraud. A popular method of fraud is phishing, stealing a confidential information such as passwords, logins that allow to access a bank account and perform a banking operation. Moreover, it is more and more common to encounter a situation where a person buys goods on the Internet but never receives them. This money goes to us, and we launder it through passing it on, making our ‘employer’ elusive. The process of money laundering is regulated in the Penal Code and in accordance with Art. 299, the penalty for this act is up to 10 years imprisonment.

What indicates that work may be illegal?

• Job without the required qualifications with high earnings; all contact, including an interview, is done via phone, e-mail or instant messaging.
• The employer requires an active private bank account to perform the job.
• Information about the alleged company, such as: phone number, e-mail address and registered office address differ from those available on the official websites.
• Possibility to start this work without signing a contract first.
• The employer requires you to forward the money you have received into your private bank account.

What to do if you have committed such a crime?

If you suspect that you are a victim of such fraud, immediately gather all documents and evidence relating to the work you did and report this to the police yourself. Only by cooperating with law enforcement agencies you can avoid punishment.