Thane Cybercrime Bust: Six Held For Supplying Mule Accounts In Rs 57 Crore Fraud

Police in Maharashtra’s Thane district have busted a syndicate allegedly supplying mule bank accounts to cyber fraudsters and arrested six people, an official said.

The Crime Branch’s Unit 4 conducted a raid in Mohol, Solapur district, based on intelligence inputs. During the operation, police seized three laptops, 29 mobile phones, 23 SIM cards, 155 ATM cards, 105 bank passbooks and chequebooks, along with Rs 74,350 in cash.

A mule account is a bank or financial account opened or controlled for the purpose of receiving and transferring illegally obtained money on behalf of cybercriminals.

According to police, further investigation revealed that the accounts linked to the syndicate were connected with 96 cybercrime complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The complaints were filed mainly in Delhi, Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra.

Police have detected fraudulent transactions worth Rs 57.25 crore that passed through the seized mule accounts.

The six arrested accused allegedly opened or arranged bank accounts and subsequently allowed cybercriminals to use them for moving funds obtained through online fraud. Investigators said several victims were allegedly cheated through illegal online betting and gaming platforms.

The arrests have exposed a wider network involved in facilitating cyber fraud by providing accounts through which stolen money could be received, transferred and concealed.

Police said the investigation is continuing to identify other members of the syndicate, trace the flow of the allegedly defrauded funds and determine the full extent of the network.