As many as 29,391 mule accounts in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai (26,255), Delhi (19,296), Gurgaon (13,513), Bengaluru (12,439), Kolkata (8,527), Jaipur (3,869), Pune (3,264), Hyderabad (2,959), and Lucknow (2,732) — these are the top 10 hotspots for bank accounts in India used for laundering cyber crime proceeds, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. Nearly 1,47,445 mule accounts were being operated across India by cyber fraudsters from Southeast Asia until June 30 this year — an increase from 80,465 such accounts identified as of January 2024, the Government said on Sunday. A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to receive, transfer or launder illicit funds without the knowledge or sometimes with the complicity of the account holder. The other hotspots identified are Chennai with 2,605 mule accounts, Patna (2,384), New Delhi (2,334), and Ahmedabad (2,231). “This year, around 144,492 mule accounts were identified in January, February (130,205), March (150,957), April (136,708), May (158,247), and June (147,445). An analysis revealed this year alone, India is losing over Rs 1,000 crore monthly due to various forms of cyber fraud. More than 80% of cheating cases are recorded in the ‘financial fraud’ category,” a senior government official said, requesting anonymity.
