Pune: The Pune city police on Saturday registered 23 FIRs at different police stations against mule bank account holders for facilitating cyber frauds involving transactions together worth Rs11.5 crore.The move follows the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal sending information on such activity through various banks. The central government has launched Operation Mule Hunt across the country to identify and book mule bank account operators.In the city, the Kharadi police registered an FIR against a person whose bank account recorded transactions worth over Rs3.6 crore in the last few days. The account was allegedly used by cyber criminals involved in online share-trading frauds, digital arrest scams, online job cons, remote access software scams and other related crimes.Joint commissioner of police Sanjay Darade told TOI: “Cybercriminals receive money from victims of various frauds, transfer the funds through multiple bank accounts and create different layers of mule accounts. There was a need to crack down on such facilitation and the people who aid fraudsters and allow use of their bank accounts in return for a commission.”He said, “Police personnel will scrutinise information on such bank account holders and take legal action after obtaining their KYC details.”Meanwhile, the Wagholi police registered a case against a mule bank account holder for allowing fraudsters to carry out transactions worth Rs1.8 crore. The Airport police registered a case against another bank account holder for letting conmen use his account for transactions worth Rs1.2 crore.Similarly, a mule bank account with a private bank’s Baner branch was allegedly used to transfer Rs65.5 lakh of fraud proceeds. Senior inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant of the Baner police station said, “We have frozen the said bank account and sought its KYC details. We will take legal action against the person involved. The account was used to cheat victims in Thane, Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.”Additionally, the Pimpri Chinchwad police registered two separate FIRs. The Bavdhan police on Saturday registered a case against a Talawade resident for being a mule bank account holder. It was found that transactions worth Rs64 lakh were made through the accused’s account between Jan and April. In yet another instance, the Bhosari police registered a case against a resident of Amravati district. Transactions worth Rs12.3 lakh were made through his account between Jan and June.In Nashik city, the cyber police have found 58 mule accounts used for transactions of over Rs79 lakh. The cyber police are continuing with their investigations related to the mule accounts. So far, they have registered three FIRs under relevant sections of the BNS.
