Mumbai: To curb financial frauds and detect mule bank accounts, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has confirmed that at least 15 banks are in various stages of implementing MuleHunter AI, a machine learning-powered tool designed to identify fraudulent accounts with high precision.
Suvendu Pati, RBI’s Chief General Manager (CGM), revealed this development during his address at the Future Proof Forensics 2025 conference, hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in Mumbai on August 1.
Five Banks Already Live with MuleHunter AI
According to Pati, five major banks have already operationalised the MuleHunter AI system:
- Canara Bank
- Punjab National Bank (PNB)
- Bank of India (BoI)
- Bank of Baroda (BoB)
- AU Small Finance Bank
He further disclosed that Federal Bank is in the final stages of deployment and will go live shortly. “Federal Bank, it will go live in some time. But all other banks are in the preparation stage,” Pati noted, suggesting a coordinated industry-wide effort to root out mule account abuse.
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95% Accuracy in Detecting Mule Accounts
MuleHunter, developed using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) models, analyzes banking behavior patterns to identify mule accounts — accounts that are used as conduits to launder money, often under fake identities or operated by duped individuals.
Pati shared that Canara Bank has already recorded 95% accuracy using MuleHunter AI in detecting such accounts. This marks a significant advancement in automated fraud detection capabilities, which were previously reliant on manual or rule-based monitoring systems.
RBI’s Tech-Driven Approach to Combat Financial Crime
The MuleHunter initiative is part of RBI’s broader push to embrace AI-driven surveillance and ensure financial system integrity. With cyber and financial crimes increasingly exploiting digital channels and unsuspecting account holders, the central bank has encouraged financial institutions to adopt real-time monitoring solutions.
By integrating AI tools like MuleHunter, banks will be better equipped to:
- Identify mule accounts linked to phishing scams, cyber fraud, and money laundering
- Automate fraud pattern detection across large datasets
- Trigger real-time alerts and freeze suspicious transactions
The RBI has also been working with payment aggregators, fintech platforms, and law enforcement to standardize fraud reporting protocols and blacklist mule accounts at the national level.
Industry-Wide Adoption Expected by October 2025
With 10 more banks in the pipeline, RBI anticipates that a majority of India’s major banks will complete MuleHunter integration within the next two months. The central bank is also encouraging smaller banks, cooperative institutions, and digital-only banks to begin onboarding AI-based fraud detection frameworks to keep pace with evolving threats.
Banking insiders believe this could transform the way fraud investigations are conducted, enabling proactive detection and response rather than post-incident remediation.