Hyderabad: The Department of Financial Services (DFS) has directed banks to adopt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-developed artificial intelligence tool MuleHunter.AI at the earliest to detect and block mule accounts being used by cyber criminals to siphon money from victims of digital financial fraud.
The instruction came at a high-level meeting chaired by the DFS Secretary, which was attended by the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police and senior officials from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), RBI and major banks.
The meeting reviewed the findings and learnings from Operation Octopus, a recent crackdown carried out by the Hyderabad Police targeting cyber-enabled financial frauds and the mule account networks that underpin them.
Mule accounts are bank accounts, often opened using unsuspecting individuals’ credentials, that criminals use to receive and launder stolen funds.
The DFS Secretary underlined the need for closer coordination among law enforcement agencies and banks, real-time intelligence sharing and faster response mechanisms to detect fraud before it causes irreversible financial harm to customers.
The Secretary also directed State Level Bankers’ Committees (SLBC) to sensitise state police authorities about the preventive steps being taken by banks and to step up public awareness campaigns on cyber financial fraud.
