Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday said the central bank has developed an innovative artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) based model MuleHunter.ai to address the growing issue of mule bank accounts that are often used for committing financial fraud. Developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, the new initiative is piloted with two public sector banks.
The amount involved in banking system frauds surged to Rs 21,515 crore in the first half of FY26, up 30 per cent from the same period last year, even as the number of frauds fell 2.8 times to 5,092.
By enabling real-time data sharing, the platform will help prevent scams and ensure secure transactions.
State-owned banks have received guidance from the government to close Jan Dhan accounts whose beneficiaries are unwilling to keep them active, amid rising instances of such accounts being misused by fraudsters as mule accounts to defraud people, people aware of the development said.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday exhorted the fledgling fintech ecosystem to focus on the underserved sections of the society to deepen financial inclusion. Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Malhotra accepted that serving the "privileged" will be a lucrative business, but urged the smaller companies to focus on the underserved.
The number of digital financial frauds rose more than four times in FY24 year-on-year to comprise 80 per cent of all financial frauds.
This marks a 67% increase from the Rs 2,537 crore lost in scams in 2022-2023.
'The central bank has highlighted that the slowdown in growth has been limited to a few sectors and overall growth is expected to pick up in the second half of the year.'
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