Representational Image. (ETV Bharat)
Hyderabad: A commercial bank manager got used to earning money in the wrong way within two years of joining the company by helping open more than 200 current bank accounts, offering Rs 10,000-20,000 for each. He gave this illegal income to his friends working in other banks.
After being recently arrested by the police, he pretended that he did nothing wrong and had worked for the development of the bank. In the same way, four managers, a field officer and a KYC approver working in another bank had been providing hundreds of mule accounts to cyber gangs abroad for a year in exchange for rewards.
Police, who thought that tightening KYC rules would curb crimes, kept a close watch on such illegal activities. They zeroed in on those who were helping common people to open accounts without proper details. So far, police believed that the entire scam was being managed by middlemen.
Recently, when the Hyderabad Cybercrime Police launched ‘Operation Octopus’ to probe mule accounts across the country, it was discovered that bank employees were providing mule accounts to cyber criminals for commissions. About 33 people have been arrested after strong evidence cropped up.
In this process, the police have identified about 100 people — from managers to supervisors in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — having involvement in the scam. The police are also getting in touch with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take action against the commercial banks concerned.
Representatives of several banks, who were shocked by the series of arrests, are requesting to contact senior police officials, requesting a chance to rectify their mistakes.
Police said cybercrime gangs abroad have taken to a novel route to provide bank accounts, SIM cards, and cellphones they need. They are targeting those who have lost money in online gaming and cricket betting and turning them into agents with the hope of making money.
“They are collecting the Aadhaar details, GST numbers, etc., of casual labourers, auto drivers, small workers, housewives, and traders to open current bank accounts in their names,” said an official.
In case errors are spotted in KYC documents, the bank staff will willingly cooperate with the commission. Police investigations have found that lakhs of rupees are being deposited in bank accounts from different places, but are being left unattended.
“We will not spare anyone who helps open mule accounts. The way to curb cybercrime is to block mule accounts. Some banks and officials are not adhering to KYC rules. Even when suspicious transactions are detected, they are being left unreported. We will take legal action against those who are helping criminals,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said.
Geo-Tagging Cyber Criminals’ Homes
The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) has come up with an innovative plan to keep a close eye on cyber criminals. To control such activities, their homes have been geo-tagged. TGCSB teams visited the homes of 337 accused under ‘Operation Crackdown 2.0’ across the state on Saturday. About 480 cybercrime cases were registered in their names in Telangana and 1,233 cases across the country.
The teams verified whether they are staying at the same address where they were arrested, their current status and whether they are turning to crime again. In this process, 218 accused were questioned to collect information.
While many of them were found at the same address, some have moved to other places for employment. It has also been revealed that Prasad Kumar (30), the accused in a child pornography case, is currently living in Nepal. The whereabouts of 115 accused are unknown, and three accused have died.
269 Mule Account Holders
TGCSB had collected the backgrounds of 614 accused involved in cybercrime cases registered in the year 2024-25. Of them, 269 were found to be mule account holders. It has also been revealed that there are 155 agents collecting details of mule accounts, 36 accused in cases of child pornography, eight cyber addicts, six fake SIM dealers, three call centre operators, three bank officials and 134 accused in non-financial crime cases. TGCSB will keep a constant vigil on all of them.
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