The woman approached court seeking transfer of Rs 20.12 lakh from accounts frozen during the probe into her First Information Report (FIR), filed in January this year. (File photo/Canva)
A court order in Mumbai lays bare the scale of mule account networks in cyber fraud cases — 969 unique accounts were used to move money stolen from a city-based housewife cheated of Rs 33.50 lakh.
Mule accounts are bank accounts used by fraudsters to receive and pass on stolen funds, making the money trail deliberately difficult to trace. The trail of the stolen money, submitted before the court in this case, shows 978 separate transactions, with amounts as low as Rs 29, spread across multiple nationalised and private banks.
The 38-year-old woman, who had worked as an accounts and finance manager and has been trading in shares for over a decade, first came across an advertisement on Instagram about stock market investments. On clicking it, she was added to a WhatsApp group of 150 members run by a person claiming to be a professor, with an assistant and a manager. The group provided regular tips on maximising profits and directed members to download a trading app.
When the victim tried to withdraw her supposed profits, she was told she had to first pay Rs 33.50 lakh as “centralised tax” to the government, at which point she realised she had been scammed and approached the police in January.
The woman approached court seeking transfer of Rs 20.12 lakh from accounts frozen during the probe into her First Information Report (FIR), filed in January this year.
The list of transactions and accounts revealed 978 entries across various banks, with 969 distinct account numbers. The smallest recovered amount was Rs 29.01; the largest, Rs 45,510. Most transfers were in fragments of three and four digits, which is a technique used to make tracing harder.
“After taking into consideration the say filed by the police, it is clear that the bank accounts are freezed wherein amount is transferred. Prima facie applicant appears to be entitled to get the temporary custody of the amount which is transferred,” the judicial magistrate in Borivali said in an order passed on March 27.
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The court directed the woman to execute an indemnity bond of Rs 30 lakh, agreeing to return the amount if it is subsequently proved she is not entitled to it. The Borivali court has similarly permitted transfer of amounts to other cyber victims, with bank accounts involving over 500 unique accounts in those cases.
A recent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the Ministry of Home Affairs lays out the process for interim custody of amounts put on hold or seized during a cyber fraud probe.
Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstrates exceptional Expertise and Authority in covering the intricacies of the judicial and correctional systems. Reporting for The Indian Express, she is a highly Trustworthy source for in-depth coverage of courtroom proceedings and human rights issues.
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