Grenada’s top financial oversight body, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has issued two urgent public alerts to warn local residents about two increasingly common financial fraud schemes that have targeted people in the country recently: money mule scams and smishing attacks targeting bank customers.
The first scam, the money mule scheme, preys on people seeking quick, easy side income by exploiting their personal bank accounts to move stolen funds out of Grenada’s borders. Scammers typically initiate contact through a friend or an unexpected online connection, offering a casual job that requires the target to simply allow funds to be deposited into their personal account in exchange for a cut of the money. Once stolen funds are transferred into the target’s account, the scammers instruct the target to withdraw the full sum and forward the majority of it to an overseas account via local money service remittance providers, letting the target keep a small portion as payment for their role. The FIU emphasizes that participating in this scheme is not a harmless side gig—it is a serious criminal offense. Anyone who agrees to let their account be used to receive and transfer these illicit funds can face charges for money laundering and handling proceeds of crime, which carry penalties including heavy fines and imprisonment. To avoid falling victim and facing legal consequences, the FIU urges residents to never share personal bank account details to support unvetted, illegitimate transactions, never withdraw or transfer funds that are not rightfully their own. If approached by scammers, individuals should contact their bank immediately and file a report with the FIU right away.
Alongside the money mule warning, the FIU also issued an alert about a surge in smishing attacks—fraudulent text messaging campaigns that specifically target Grenadian bank customers. These scams use fake text messages sent from local Grenadian phone numbers to trick recipients. The messages typically claim the recipient’s bank account has been suspended or that suspicious unusual activity has been detected, and include a clickable link that claims to let the user fix the issue immediately. While these messages and accompanying fake pages are often designed to look identical to legitimate bank communications, they are entirely fraudulent. If a recipient clicks the link, they are redirected to a convincing fake bank website that mirrors the design of a real local bank portal. When targets enter their full banking credentials—including their full name, account password, authentication codes, and registered email address—the stolen information is immediately sent to the criminals behind the scam. With this access, scammers can take full control of the victim’s bank account and linked email, then transfer all available funds out of the account within hours. Even if the account holds no balance at the time of the attack, the account and personal information remain permanently compromised.
To protect against smishing attacks, the FIU outlines clear safety guidelines that all bank customers should follow. Consumers should never click links included in unsolicited text messages or emails claiming to be from their bank, and should never share personal or banking-sensitive information through SMS links or third-party web portals. One-time passwords and two-factor authentication codes should never be shared with any third party, even someone claiming to be a bank representative. Instead of clicking links from messages, users should always manually type their bank’s official web address into their browser to access their account. Any message claiming account issues should be verified by calling the bank directly through its official publicly listed contact number. If an individual realizes they have already fallen victim to a smishing attack, they are instructed to contact their bank immediately to lock the account, change all passwords for both online banking and linked email accounts, and submit a full report to the FIU for investigation. A key reminder from the FIU: no legitimate bank will ever ask customers to verify or restore their account access via a text message link. The core rule of thumb for consumers to avoid this scam is simple: don’t click, don’t share, don’t send sensitive information.
This public advisory is released by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Grenada, with the outlet NOW Grenada noting that it does not take responsibility for opinions or content shared by contributing official bodies, and provides a channel for users to report abusive content if encountered.