CBI arrests 3 for Rs 3.81 cr cyber fraud using mule accounts
New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The CBI has arrested three persons for allegedly siphoning off Rs 3.81 crore through online fraud in a single day using mule accounts, officials said on Sunday.
The agency has arrested mule account holder Sudhir Bhaskar Palande and agents Yash Thakur and Shaurya Sunilkumar Singh, who have been sent to judicial custody, they said.
Acting on a tip-off, the CBI booked a mule account holder and unidentified cyber scamsters, bank officials and others for allegedly committing cybercrime using a mule account in which Rs 3.81 crore was siphoned off on July 2 from various victims.
A mule account is a bank account used by scamsters to move illicit money.
The crime proceeds were promptly dispersed to more than 100 mule accounts across India in the scheme's first layer, a CBI spokesperson said.
The money was then routed through thousands of additional accounts in a sophisticated attempt to obfuscate their origin before reaching the principal fraudsters.
'During the investigation, CBI unearthed the entire conspiracy of opening of said mule accounts by the bankers and the middlemen without proper KYC norms or customer due diligence or initial risk assessment," the spokesperson said.
She said the actions were in violation of the guidelines issued vide the RBI Master circular.
The CBI searches resulted in the seizure of a trove of incriminating documents and digital evidence, mobile phones, iPads, bank account opening documents, transaction details, KYC documents, etc.
'Identification of individuals, including the middlemen involved in the opening of mule accounts in Mumbai, facilitating arrangements of stay of an account holder in Nagpur and transferring of funds to other mule accounts through agents in Nagpur was done by the CBI," she said.
It was also found that agents in Nagpur and mule account holders received their commission in cryptocurrency which was further distributed among the co-conspirators, the spokesperson said. PTI ABS ARI
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July 27, 2025, 19:15 IST
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