Chennai cops arrest 205 mule a/c holders

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) arrested 205 cybercriminals, mule account holders, from various districts of Tamil Nadu in a special crackdown on August 6 and 7.

As part of the investigation — based on complaints received through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and intelligence gathered on suspicious bank transactions — police examined bank accounts linked to cyber fraud and identified 310 mule bank accounts routinely used to receive and transfer money obtained through cybercrimes. Legal action was initiated against those behind these accounts for illegal financial transactions.

Apart from Chennai City, the accused were secured from districts across the state, including Coimbatore, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, among others.

"Cyber criminals generally use mule bank accounts, opened in someone else's name, to move the money they defraud from the public. The original account holder often "lends" or "sells" it to fraudsters for a commission. When a cybercriminal scams someone online, the victim's money is first transferred into a mule account. From there it's quickly moved to multiple other accounts or withdrawn as cash. This makes it hard for police to trace back to the real offender, " a police official said, adding that agents working for cyber fraudsters target students, job seekers and housewives and convince them to lend their bank accounts for a commission.

Chennai City Police Commissioner A Amalraj advised the public not to allow anyone else to use bank accounts opened in their name under any circumstances. He warned people against transferring money received from unknown persons to other accounts for a commission, as such actions make them accomplices in cybercrime