NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has arrested four men for allegedly sharing and facilitating the use of a bank account linked to a ₹44,000 cyber fraud, exposing how apparently ordinary account holders can become important links in the movement of stolen money.
The arrests were made by the Cyber Police Station of East District after investigators examined complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and followed the financial trail to a bank account allegedly connected to one of the accused.
Police recovered five mobile phones from the suspects. Investigators are now examining the devices for messages, contacts and other digital evidence that could establish how the bank account details moved between different people and determine the role played by each accused.
₹44,000 Transaction Leads Investigators To Delhi Account
The investigation is linked to a cyber-fraud complaint lodged by a man identified as Vignesh at Kallakurichi Police Station in Tamil Nadu.
According to police, investigators traced ₹44,000 to a Kotak Mahindra Bank account allegedly linked to Ashwani, 24, a resident of Trilokpuri in Delhi. The transaction was recorded on August 2.
The complainant told investigators that money had first been transferred from his Indian Bank account to his State Bank of India account through what appeared to be a self-transfer. He alleged that he had not authorised the transaction.
Another ₹23,000 was allegedly credited to his SBI account from an unidentified account. Subsequent online transactions were then carried out without his knowledge or consent, resulting in a reported total loss of ₹44,000, including ₹21,000 belonging to him.
Police are examining bank statements and transaction records to reconstruct the complete sequence and determine how the suspected beneficiary account became connected to the stolen funds.
An FIR was registered at the East District Cyber Police Station on October 23 under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police Trace Alleged Chain Of Bank Account Sharing
The investigation took a wider turn after police questioned Ashwani about the account.
According to investigators, Ashwani allegedly said he had shared his bank account details with his friend Aditya, also 24, believing they would be used to receive a loan.
Police allege that Aditya subsequently passed the account information to Ram Kumar alias Annu, 22, who then shared it with Vikrant alias Vicky, 31.
Vikrant allegedly passed the details further to another person in connection with a proposed commission.
The four men were subsequently arrested. Ashwani and Aditya are residents of Trilokpuri, while Ram Kumar is from Raj Nagar-II in Palam and Vikrant is from Kakrola.
The alleged sequence is important because investigators are increasingly looking beyond the person whose name appears on a bank account. They are also examining who obtained the account, who controlled it, who passed its credentials onward and who ultimately benefited from transactions routed through it.
Why Mule Account Suppliers Matter To Cybercrime Investigations
Mule accounts have become a critical part of online fraud operations because cybercriminals need somewhere to receive money taken from victims.
Fraudsters may avoid using accounts directly connected to themselves. Instead, they can obtain accounts belonging to other individuals or businesses and use them temporarily to receive, transfer or withdraw fraudulent proceeds.
Some account holders may knowingly provide their accounts for payment or commission. In other cases, people may claim that their banking credentials were obtained through promises of loans, employment or other financial benefits.
That distinction becomes an important part of an investigation. Police must establish whether an account holder knowingly participated in the operation, ignored suspicious activity or was genuinely deceived by someone seeking access to the account.
The Delhi case illustrates another layer of the problem: an account can allegedly pass through several intermediaries before reaching the people who actually use it to move suspected fraud proceeds.
For investigators, mobile phones can therefore become crucial evidence. Chats, call records, payment discussions and account-sharing messages may help reconstruct who controlled the account and whether commissions or other payments were promised.
Small Fraud Amount Can Still Reveal A Wider Network
The ₹44,000 loss in this case is relatively small compared with cyber-fraud investigations involving crores of rupees. But tracing even one disputed transaction can expose a much wider chain of facilitators.
Delhi Police has recently uncovered several cases in which mule-account suppliers, account holders and intermediaries allegedly formed separate layers between victims and the operators carrying out the original fraud.
This makes the account-sharing stage increasingly important for enforcement agencies. Following the money can allow police to move from a victim’s transaction to the receiving account, then to the people who supplied or controlled it and eventually towards higher levels of a cybercrime network.
In the present case, police have not yet announced the identification of every person allegedly connected to the transaction chain.
The seized phones are being examined, while investigators continue analysing financial records and digital communications to establish the precise role of each accused and identify any additional people linked to the suspected mule-account network.
