While opening new accounts, banks can check if the name appears in any mule data. In case it does, the bank can conduct enhanced due diligence.
Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju has urged banks to adopt the MuleHunter AI tool developed by RBI to identify and prevent mule accounts used in cyber financial frauds. The meeting also discussed 'Operation Octopus' by Hyderabad Police and emphasised coordinated efforts and intelligence sharing.
Gujarat police have uncovered cyber frauds worth Rs 2,289 crore and arrested 638 individuals as part of 'Operation Mule Account 1.0', a state-wide crackdown on online criminals launched in 2025.
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.
By enabling real-time data sharing, the platform will help prevent scams and ensure secure transactions.
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 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.'
