In a significant crackdown on cyber fraud, the Hyderabad police have arrested three senior bank officials for allegedly helping cyber criminals open mule accounts. These accounts, which are used for illegal banking transactions, were opened in exchange for hefty commissions ranging from Rs 50,000 for savings accounts to Rs 80,000 for current accounts. The three arrested officials are part of a larger group of 52 people arrested in the last week for their involvement in cyber fraud activities.
The arrests came after a series of raids conducted by the Hyderabad police across nine states—including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Bihar. The raids were part of a coordinated effort to tackle the growing issue of mule accounts being misused by fraudsters.
At a press conference held on Wednesday, Hyderabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand identified the arrested individuals as Shubham Kumar Jha, Deputy Manager at RBL Bank, Haroon Rasheed Imamuddin Dharawad, Assistant Vice-President at Axis Bank (both from Bengaluru), and Kata Srinivasa Rao, Sales Manager at Kotak Mahindra Bank (from Hyderabad). The officials exploited banking system loopholes to open hundreds of mule accounts in collaboration with cyber fraudsters.
A mule account is a bank account that is opened in someone else’s name but is controlled by cyber criminals. These accounts are then used for illicit financial transactions, allowing fraudsters to launder money or carry out other illegal activities anonymously. According to the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau, there are currently at least five lakh mule accounts being misused across India.
The investigation continues as the police look to uncover further details about the scale of this cyber fraud operation.
