The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has arrested four people for allegedly creating mule accounts to help cybercriminals divert money from online frauds.
City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said the accused misused the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises’ Udyam Portal to open bank accounts in the names of daily wage workers. These accounts were later used by cyber crooks to transfer illegal money.
With these arrests, CCB officials have frozen over 357 bank accounts that were being provided to cybercriminals to launder money earned through online scams. The investigation has also revealed that a few bank officials may be involved, and their role is being examined.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Lakshmeesh N (33), a loan recovery agent; Prakash H (43), a private firm employee; Sunil Kumar (45), an unemployed man; and Puttaswamy (54), a car driver. All four are residents of Bengaluru and nearby areas. The police are investigating their links to wider cybercrime networks.
Preliminary investigations show that the accused approached innocent people and convinced them to open bank accounts using their identity documents. Once the accounts were opened, the accused collected the bank details, debit cards, and operated the accounts themselves. In return, they offered the account holders a small monthly profit.
“For every ₹1 lakh transaction, the account holders received ₹4,000 as commission. We are probing if the bank account holders were also involved. Some of the mule accounts seized are also tied to shell companies,” Mr. Singh added.
The CCB also found that these bank accounts were involved in transactions worth crores of rupees. Over 100 cases registered across the country on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) were linked to these accounts.
Officials suspect that several others may be part of this racket. Efforts are on to trace them and understand their role in the scam. The police have also seized a laptop, four mobile phones, several bank passbooks, cheque books, and other documents. These are being examined for further evidence.
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