Cyber Fraud Crackdown: How CBI and Banks Are Targeting Mule Accounts

During the day-long meeting, all pending matters about ongoing Bank Fraud Investigations and Prosecutions being handled by CBI were discussed, said a statement.

The agenda of the conference was to enhance inter-departmental cooperation and expedite investigations pertaining to bank fraud cases.

During the meeting, detailed presentations were made by the senior officers from CBI and PSBs on relevant operational issues.

The experts also exchanged case-specific details and deliberated on the way forward to expedite pending investigations.

They also discussed steps to streamline procedures and ensure proactive cooperation in matters related to obtaining approvals and prosecution sanctions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, said the statement.

A CBI official said several pending issues between the probe agency and Public Sector Banks about ongoing investigations were sorted out during the meeting.

An emphasis was laid on continuing structured engagement and institutional coordination to expedite investigations, resolve pending issues, and ensure the timely completion of investigations.

It was agreed to maintain momentum and reinforce institutional collaboration to overcome procedural bottlenecks, said the statement.

A mule account is a bank or financial account used by criminals to launder illegally obtained money, making it hard to trace. In most cases, the account holder, a "money mule" is either unaware of the misuse of his account or tricked into participating through fake job offers or scams.

Earlier this month, the CBI filed a charge sheet against 13 accused persons in a major “digital arrest” cyber fraud case, as part of its focused, case-by-case crackdown under Operation Chakra-V against organised transnational cybercrimes.

The case was registered suo motu by the CBI to comprehensively investigate ten significant incidents of Digital Arrest scams reported across the country, amid a steep rise in such offences.

In October 2025, the CBI conducted coordinated searches across Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal.

“These searches led to the recovery of incriminating material including electronic devices, communication logs, financial records and other digital evidence,” the CBI said in its press note.

On the basis of evidence recovered, three accused persons were arrested, all of whom are currently in judicial custody.

The central agency stressed that during the investigation, it analysed over 15,000 IP addresses associated with the scam networks.

“The technical analysis revealed extensive cross-border connections, showing that several key bank accounts used for collecting and routing victim funds were being controlled by masterminds based in Cambodia, Hong Kong and China,” it said.

- IANS