'I got quick cash in my account but it was too good to be true'

Derai says the friend's Instagram account had pictures of "cars, hands holding £50 notes, holidays".

"It was glitz and glamour," he says. "She’d say: 'I made this much money today and you can too'."

Derai responded to a "quick cash" advert on Instagram and was put in touch with someone he now knows was a money mule recruiter.

After exchanging messages Derai shared his bank details and £4,000 ($5,000) was put into his account the same day.

"I wasn’t used to my bank balance being a four-digit number," he says.

Derai says it seemed too good to be true. He would eventually find out that it was.

He met a recruiter at a bank, planning to withdraw the money deposited in his account and hand it back to them.

As he followed their instructions, the cash machine swallowed his card and his bank told him it had closed his account shortly afterwards.

While being a money mule can land you in prison, it's more common for a red flag marker to be put against someone's name if there's suspicion of fraudulent activity.

"I was told I couldn’t have a bank account for up to six years," Derai says.

"It’s a blacklist. You can’t get a credit card, a loan or a mortgage.

"I felt a bit ashamed. My mum was upset but said 'son, you can fix it, do what you’ve got to do to take your life back'."

Derai appealed to the Financial Ombudsman Service, an organisation that resolves disputes between businesses and customers.

Three appeals and 10 months later, he convinced officials to remove the marker against his name, allowing him to open an account and rebuild his future.

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