Mule accounts bought, sold like candies on social media: Probe into Pune cyber scams

f one can ignore the spelling and grammar blunders, the post represents a serious and worrying trend that cyber investigators in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have come across in the recent past.

The mule bank accounts, the lifeblood of online scams, are openly bought and sold on social media as casually as candies.

Sellers and buyers openly put out their demand and supply bids in Facebook and Telegram posts.

“It is just like a roadside thela (a small shop) of mule accounts,” says a cyber investigator from Pimpri Chinchwad police.

“And it is worrying. This means that even if we close down one group, another can be opened the very next minute,” he says.

Vinoykumar Choubey, Police Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad, said, “Mule accounts remain a central concern in cybercrimes, as they facilitate the movement of siphoned money without detection. Addressing this issue is key to disrupting the operations of cybercriminals.”

Cyber investigators from Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad — who in the recent past made multiple arrests in cases of share trading fraud, digital arrests and online extortion cyber fraud and task frauds — have come across hundreds of mule accounts that were used to receive and siphon money.

But the way these mule accounts were “procured” by racketeers was different than before.

“In most cyber crimes, mule accounts were obtained by cyber racketeers in a specific manner. In these cases, mule account handlers would recruit mule account holders in their acquaintance, those from nearby areas and villages and promise these people small commission or a one time lump sum amount,” said a cyber investigator from Pimpri Chinchwad police.

“The handler then gives the access of these accounts to Cyber criminals. This means the handler hands over the SIM card linked to the bank account, debit card and passwords of the accounts as a full kit. We have now observed a new trend. These mule account handlers openly advertise on social media and phone messenger groups that they are in possession of kits of such accounts. On the other hand, cyber criminals too openly ask on these platforms about the availability of sets of such accounts,” the investigator added.

Another police officer said, “During our probes we have come across multiple such closed groups on Facebook and Telegram where people who show interest can easily join. Someone posts about being in possession of 20 savings or current accounts and those who want them respond. Sometimes, a person advertises that he or she requires 15 accounts. These posts on several occasions claim that the accounts are to be used for gaming or share trading but are in fact used to receive and siphon funds received from cyber scams.”

“The kits of these accounts are sent from sellers to buyers either by courier or through face to face meetings. Once these kits of mule accounts are in the hands of cyber criminals, they use them to create gateways to receive cyber crime proceeds. The accounts for sale are either individual accounts or those of fraudulently registered companies or enterprises ,” the officer added.

“A key strategy to curtail mule accounts being traded openly on the social media would be to control the availability by creating awareness and institutional reforms,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) of Pimpri Chinchwad, Sandeep Doiphode said.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affair had in October issued an alert against illegal payment gateways created using mule bank accounts by transnational organised cybercriminals facilitating money laundering as a service.

Multiple recent raids have revealed that trans-national criminals have created illegal digital payment gateways using mule and rented accounts.

These illegal gateways are used for laundering proceeds of multiple nature of cybercrimes.

The I4C alert read, “Current accounts and saving accounts are scouted through social media, majorly from Telegram and Facebook. These accounts belong to shell companies, enterprises or individuals. These mule accounts are then controlled remotely from overseas. An illegal payment gateway is then created using these mule accounts given to criminal syndicates for accepting deposits on illegal platforms like fake investment scam sites and other scams.”

The alert further reads, “I4C has advised citizens not to sell or rent their bank accounts or company registration certificate or Udhyam Aadhaar Registration certificate to anyone. Illicit funds deposited in such bank accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. Banks may deploy checks to identify misuse of bank accounts that are used for setting up Illegal Payment Gateways.”