Drop Account

A drop account is a temporary financial account created or purchased with the sole purpose of receiving stolen money. Unlike a mule account — which often belongs to a recruited individual — a drop account may be opened using stolen identity documents or synthetic identities, or purchased on criminal marketplaces from people willing to sell access to their accounts.

Fraudsters value drop accounts because they expect the account to be closed quickly once the bank detects suspicious activity. The plan is always to move funds out before that happens. Drop accounts are typically used in a chain: funds flow from a victim's account into a drop account, then immediately funnelled onward through additional accounts or converted into cash or cryptocurrency.

The term is especially common in the context of authorised push payment fraud and business email compromise, where large sums must be moved quickly. Law enforcement can sometimes trace funds back through drop accounts to identify wider criminal networks, but recovery is difficult once funds have left the account.