Cyber Crimes: Cause for concern as 450,000 ‘mule’ bank accounts frozen across India

It appears cyber crime has become a big cause for concern in India as the Centre has frozen tens of thousands of ‘mule’ bank accounts in the past year. These accounts operate across the banking system and our typically used for laundering proceeds of cyber crimes.

Most of these ‘mule’ bank accounts have been found in the State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, The Indian Express quoted sources as saying. These accounts are usually created using KYC documents of another person.

Officials of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Prime Minister’s Office officials have been part of a series of meetings on the issue. These meetings discussed shortcomings of the Indian banking system in detail.

Mule bank accounts: Centre identifies loopholes in system

The media agency reported that nearly 40,000 mule bank accounts have been detected in branches of State Bank of India, 10,000 in Punjab National Bank, 7,000 in Canara Bank (including Syndicate Bank), and 6,000 in Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The probe found that fraudsters are using three methods to access money – cheques, digital and cash dispensers. Since January 2023, the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal has recorded around 100,000 cyber complaints.

In the hours-long meeting, PMO officials heard that the Centre’s high-level inter-ministerial panel has identified loopholes in the system and that police forces in different states and union territories across the country have been directed to take action proactively.

Also Read | Apple fans can now order its 100 Best Albums book 208-page tome which is costlier than an iPad