Gujarat’s crackdown on 913 mule accounts reveals Rs 2,289 crore cyberfraud

Gandhinagar: Bank accounts used to quietly channel stolen money have come under the scanner in Gujarat’s anti-cybercrime drive. The state govt says action against 913 mule accounts helped expose cyberfraud transactions worth Rs 2,289 crore. Investigators registered 565 FIRs and arrested 638 suspects during the operation.

A mule account is a bank account used by cybercriminals to receive, transfer or launder money obtained through fraud. These accounts are often opened or operated by individuals who knowingly or unknowingly allow fraudsters to route money through them, making cybercrime trails harder to track.

Officials said the operation was driven by extensive analysis of data obtained from multiple cybercrime-monitoring platforms, including the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), the Coordination Portal and the 1930 cybercrime helpline.

Based on intelligence generated through these platforms, Gujarat police appointed nodal officers in every district and established dedicated support teams to investigate complaints and coordinate field-level action. Banks were also directed to strengthen real-time information sharing to help authorities quickly identify suspicious transactions and account activity.

In a parallel effort to strengthen safeguards against digital fraud, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced an artificial intelligence-based risk-scoring mechanism through the Indian Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC). Under this system, every transaction will be classified as low, medium, or high risk to help identify suspicious accounts. Based on these risk scores, banks can take necessary action.