CBI Busts Mule Bank Accounts in Cyber Fraud Under Operation Chakra V
Banking and Finance
5 min read
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched searches in five states under Operation Chakra V to bust mule bank accounts related to cybercrime and digital arrest scam. CBI officers conducted searches in five states —Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh —as part of Operation Chakra V.
According to the CBI, around 8.5 lakh mule accounts have been opened in various banks across the country to launder the money extorted by criminals through cybercrimes and digital arrest.
What are Mule Bank Accounts?
The Money Mule bank account refers to the bank accounts opened by money mules for the purpose of money laundering.
Money mules are individuals with bank accounts who knowingly or unknowingly facilitate the transfer of illegally acquired money on behalf of criminals into other people's accounts.
The money of the criminals is deposited in the mule's bank accounts, and they are asked to transfer it to another person's bank account with a promise of a certain commission.
It initiates a chain of money transfers through various bank accounts, and the money ultimately ends up in the criminal's account as untainted funds.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the transfer of funds through these highly interconnected accounts makes it very difficult for the banks to trace and recover the funds.
RBI Launches MuleHunter.ai Mission
To detect and stop money mule bank accounts, banks follow a 'know your customer' (KYC) guideline, which is static and rule-driven. The current rule employed by the banks often results in high false positives and takes a long time to detect a mule bank account.
To deal with the menace of money mules, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the MuleHunter.ai mission.
The Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub (RBIH), a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, has developed an AI (artificial intelligence)/ML (machine learning)- based system to identify money mule bank accounts.
The Advanced ML algorithm can analyse bank account transactions and account detail-related datasets with higher accuracy and greater speed than typical rule-based systems to predict mule accounts.
Due to this machine learning based approach, a greater number of mule bank accounts have been detected in the banking system.
About the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation was established under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, on 1 April 1963.
It is under the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
It is the premier criminal investigation agency of the Government of India, tasked with investigating corruption cases involving central government staff.
It is the nodal body of Interpol in india
CBI Director - Praveen Sood
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