Comedian Paul Black has taken to the streets of Aberdeen to see if shoppers would temporarily hold onto £10,000 for a stranger – a move that could land them a prison sentence of more than 10 years.
The entertainer spoke to Union Street pedestrians, offering them a £2,000 share of the haul if they keep the cash in their bank for a few hours.
Some agreed they would happily take care of the money for a short time in exchange for a cut.
However, they were shocked to discover that taking part in the practise, which is known as “money muling”, could land them a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Royal Bank of Scotland organised the video to raise awareness of potential scams and criminal activity, warning that if people take part in a similar exchange they may also be barred from opening a bank account again and suffer from a poor credit score.
Mr Black said: “To be honest, I’d never heard of money muling until recently.
“But I think that’s the key issue – people are letting criminals channel money through their bank accounts with no idea that what they’re doing is actually against the law.
“Hopefully, this new campaign will encourage people to think twice if they’re approached by a random individual and offered cash to let money sit in their bank for a few days. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”