Hyderabad man held for operating mule account for cybercriminals

Hyderabad Desk

Hyderabad: The cybercrime police arrested one person here on charges of operating a mule account and assisting cybercriminals.

The accused Mohammad Awad, an AC technician and food delivery agent from Dabeerpura was arrested based on a complaint filed by a woman from Mancherial who was duped of Rs 3.16 lakh. The money was traced to Awad’s account.

According to police, Awad had opened three accounts in his name and provided details to a man named Ilyias for a commission of  Rs 300 for every 1 lakh transferred into his account.

Cybercriminals dupe innocent people into facilitating transactions for their crimes by renting out their bank accounts or asking them to create new bank accounts in exchange for a commission. Fraudsters use these accounts to launder money and make it difficult to track, police said.

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In August this year, a SBI branch manager Shamsheer Gunj was arrested for facilitating cybercrime of Rs 175 crore. He lured poor people into opening current accounts in return for a commission. These accounts were then used to withdraw and divert funds related to cybercrime.

The issue came to light when cyber security bureau’s data analysis team detected approximately 600 complaints on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) against six accounts at the SBI branch of Shamsheer Gunj. Investigation revealed that large sums of money had been transacted from these accounts over a short period of two months; from March to April 2024. 

The police have urged individuals to monitor their account activity closely and promptly report any suspicion of having inadvertently opened a mule account. Reports can be made via the cybercrime helpline at 1930 or through their official website, cybercrime.gov.in.


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