Help! I just found out I was a money mule...

I am scared. I just discovered I have been a victim of an elaborate scam. Over the past two months I have been sending money to the Philippines for my romance scammer. I just found out the money was stolen or scammed from someone else, not from friends and associates he claimed were helping him with his family and business. Once I found out, I stopped all contact with the scammer and notified my banks. Now it looks like my identity was also stolen as he is using my name as a landlord in another city and collecting deposit money. I have changed my phone numbers, email, contacted the DOJ and now the FBI. Unfortunately, one of my banks has frozen my account based on fraudulent activity (which I reported to them) and told me I will never bank with them again. If I had known about this site, kind of romance scam or that the money was stolen, I NEVER would have sent the money for him. What should I do now?

It sounds as if you have done almost everything you can physically do at this point. Normally I would tell you to contact IC3, but the FBI is part of IC3 so if you reported the money laundering and there is documentation of your cooperation with them, it really isn't necessary. You can file a report with your local police (if they will take it) as well, so that if they do get any calls from a victim of the rental scam, they know what is going on.

As far as the scammer using your name as landlord, that is just the type of petty revenge low-life scammers often try after a victim finds them out and walks away. The good news is that it is not real identity theft--meaning the scammer can't open credit in your name or anything like that, assuming you didn't share your SSN or other key info. If a confused victim does try to report you for scamming them, it will be quite easy to show you are not involved from the emails themselves, as the scammer is not located in your physical area, and a basic investigation would quickly reveal that the letters to the rental victims are coming from out of the country.

As far as the bank goes--unfortunately, there isn't a lot you can do there. They are within their rights. As an account holder, as part of your customer agreement, you accepted responsibility for ensuring that you protect your account information and not participate in transactions without understanding what/who you are dealing with. From the bank's perspective, they see a customer who knowingly violated their agreement, both by sharing their account information and by laundering money on behalf of a stranger. This situation has cost them time and money (investigations and the associated paperwork can actually be pretty time-consuming for banks, and they have to pay personnel for them, not to mention the costs of dealing with the victims who want their money back--and at this point there very likely is at least one who now sees the scam and has requested their money be returned.) They now see you as a high risk customer and they have the right to refuse you future service on that basis. But, the fact that you reported the activity to them rather than ignore it and wait until victims complained is good, as it does at least show you did not intend to commit a crime. Had you waited and they were alerted by victims, the would be more likely to see you as an accomplice and to seek criminal charges against you as well.

One point I would add to what Dotti says is that you state that the bank have 'frozen' your account at the moment, so it isn't the end of the line. They haven't shut your account - yet, which, as Dotti says they're quite entitled to do, and they could even go further and have you prosecuted, so don't get too feisty with them no matter how you feel. Making an enemy of them is the last thing you want as they could blacklist you which would mean that you're account gets closed and no one will give you an account, which would be disastrous for you.

Your bank will have a big say in whether or not you get prosecuted which is a real risk, depending on who has been defrauded, so it's important to keep them on your side. My knowledge and experience is of UK banks who are ridiculously forgiving but generally the authorities and banks in the US can be much less so. Any person who has lost money will press for your prosecution, so be aware of how this situation has affected others because this will determine what happens. As much as you may know that you have been a victim in this, others may not see it that way.

You may want to contact an attorney who deals with financial crimes. If you recieved the western unions with your ID, you will be seeing a detective at your door soon. SAVE ALL EMAILS/PHONE RECORDS/RECIEPTS EVERYTHING that shows what was happening. You will be ok in the end, and LESSON LEARNED

Dear Trixy4, we're starting to see this more and more- US people, we assume who are involved with a scammer and don't know it, used as money mules. I am glad you took every step you could to make things right. We would appreciate any details, as they unfold, that you want to share about what happens next. It is too late for you, other than you did the right things once you realized you had a problem and were part of a crime. But you may open up the eyes of someone else who may be searching for answers and help them before it's too late. I'm glad you posted here. It is a big lesson, as we all have things to learn once we have been scammed.
I am sorry for your troubles, as I can tell you had no intent to do something wrong. It is the hard part of being scammed- you trusted someone you thought cared about you and they were just a professional liar, out to use you for their gain. Let us know if we can do anything further to help you.