Bank Fraud: Mule accounts have become a big problem in the banking system. RBI has also tried to stop these Mule accounts which have become a weapon of cyber crime. According to Biocatch's report on digital banking fraud, there were documented frauds worth Rs 302 billion in the financial year 2023. Also 13530 cases were reported in the banking system. During this period, fraud cases increased by 49 percent. However, the amount involved in fraud halved. During this period, phishing and malware attacks were carried out on people. Besides, UPI payments were also targeted. Apart from this, people were cheated through investment and part time job scams, fake accounts and changing identities.
How is this fraud done
The victim is provided some money by luring him with part time job and good returns on investment. After this, after gaining trust, these fake people become prey to big investments. Mule account is used for this. Mules are those bank accounts in which money from illegal activities comes. Then this money is transferred somewhere else. Mule account works like a bridge for money laundering. 126 such accounts were recently detected in Bengaluru. This shows that mule accounts have become a big problem in the fraud ecosystem.
People were cheated by sending fake links
According to the report, people were defrauded by extracting information from bank accounts. For this, people were tricked into clicking by sending them a fake link and money was withdrawn from their account. Email and phone calls were used for this. Many times people have lost their money by falling prey to fake websites. Many times, loans were also taken in people's names by collecting banking information. According to the report, this fraud was done by posing as bank employees and police, in the name of investment opportunities and part time jobs.
RBI changed KYC rules for prevention
Regarding the increasing problem of Mule Account, recently the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had made changes in the Know Your Customer (KYC) rules. Its purpose is to ban Mule accounts. Rapid efforts are being made to stop mule accounts in the Indian banking system. However, the report claims that currently only 9 out of 10 Mule accounts have been identified. There was very little use of VPN in these. This has revealed that most of these accounts are from India only. Also, maximum number of such accounts were found in Bhubaneswar.
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