New Delhi | In a major move aimed at tackling the rising wave of cyber-enabled financial frauds, the Centre has launched a new initiative to identify and eliminate mule accounts used by cyber criminals across the country. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday announced that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen fraud detection and improve the security of India’s rapidly expanding digital banking ecosystem.
According to officials, the partnership will focus on fraud-risk intelligence sharing, analytical collaboration and operational coordination between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. Under the agreement, I4C will share intelligence related to suspicious bank accounts and cyber fraud networks from its Suspect Registry with RBIH to enable faster and more accurate detection of suspicious financial activity across banks.
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Announcing the initiative on social media platform X, Home Minister Amit Shah said the government remains committed to building a “Cyber Secure Bharat” and described mule accounts as one of the biggest challenges in the fight against cybercrime. He stated that the collaboration would harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and eliminate hidden mule accounts that are being used to route and conceal illegally obtained money.
Officials said the data shared by I4C would be integrated with AI-driven fraud detection systems, including advanced platforms such as MuleHunter.ai™, which are being deployed across banking networks. These systems are designed to identify suspicious transaction behaviour, unusual digital payment patterns and linked account activity in real time to prevent fraudulent transfers before funds are withdrawn or dispersed.
Cyber experts explain that mule accounts are bank accounts used by fraudsters to move stolen money through multiple layers in order to hide the transaction trail and avoid detection by investigating agencies. In many cases, unemployed youths, students and financially vulnerable individuals are lured with commissions or easy-money offers to allow their bank accounts to be used by criminal networks. Such accounts have increasingly surfaced in digital arrest scams, investment frauds, UPI-related cheating and fake call-centre operations in recent years.
Officials associated with the Ministry of Home Affairs said RBIH would use the shared datasets to train and enhance AI-based fraud-risk assessment models. The objective is to improve the resilience and security of India’s digital payments infrastructure while enabling banks to identify suspicious accounts at an early stage. Authorities believe the system could significantly reduce the movement and withdrawal of fraud proceeds in cybercrime cases.
Over the past few years, I4C has expanded India’s cybercrime response architecture through initiatives such as the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), the Suspect Registry and multiple intelligence-sharing platforms. Officials say the new collaboration marks a significant shift towards integrating law-enforcement intelligence directly with AI-based banking security systems to create a more coordinated anti-fraud ecosystem.
Renowned cybercrime expert and former IPS officer Prof. Triveni Singh said mule accounts have become one of the strongest operational tools for cyber criminals. According to him, “Cyber fraudsters no longer rely on direct withdrawals alone. They are now using multi-layered account networks to complicate the transaction trail, making investigations more difficult. AI-based monitoring systems and real-time intelligence sharing can help dismantle such networks at an early stage.”
Officials believe the partnership will improve coordination between financial institutions and investigative agencies while also strengthening public trust in digital banking and online payment systems. Several major banks and financial institutions are expected to be integrated into the AI-based fraud detection network in the coming months as authorities intensify efforts to curb organised cyber financial crime in India.
