.jpg "Nagaur Police Probe How Cybercriminals Opened 84 Mule Accounts Easily")
Nagaur superintendent of police Mridul Kachawa told TOI that the gang operated 84 mule accounts. Each account holder was paid between ₹8,000 and ₹15,000 to open the account or hand over an existing one.
He said banks must file Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) when they spot unusual activity, but this often does not happen. “In this case, several current accounts were opened in large numbers, which is highly suspicious,” he added.
During checks, police found that many people had opened bank accounts only to rent them out to the cybercrime network. These accounts were then used to move crores of rupees collected through frauds in Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Kachawa said the role of insiders in the banking system cannot be ruled out.
Explaining mule accounts, he said they are bank accounts used by criminals to move or hide money while keeping their identity secret. Cybercriminals convince or pay people to open new accounts or give them access to existing ones. Once a cyber fraud takes place, the stolen money is transferred through several mule accounts to make the trail difficult to trace. This method is commonly used in phishing scams, OTP frauds, investment frauds and other online crimes.
Police believe that after the money passed through mule accounts, it was moved further through hawala channels. Investigators will now analyse bank statements, IP logs, device IDs and timestamps to track every transaction and identify handlers, collectors and final beneficiaries. They will also question employees who verified or approved the suspicious current accounts.
Since hawala involvement is suspected, officers will check cash withdrawals, physical handover points and possible links between the accused and hawala operators in Rajasthan and nearby states.
Tags:
Cybercrime
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