Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Feb 7: In a sweeping statewide operation, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has detected over 42,000 suspicious “mule” bank accounts and arrested 13 key masterminds in Bengaluru, officials said on Friday. The accounts were reportedly being used by cyber fraudsters to receive money defrauded from unsuspecting victims.

“All 29 CEN police stations across the state were instructed to gather intelligence on suspicious accounts,” a CID officer said. “Fraudsters paid Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 to actual account holders to use their accounts to collect funds. Most account holders, who are daily wage labourers, were unaware of any transactions. Only when questioned did they realise that their accounts were being misused for criminal purposes,” the officer added.

Simultaneous raids were carried out at more than 100 locations across Bengaluru, Mysuru, Davanagere, Mangaluru, and Belagavi, the officer added. The CID uncovered a large syndicate supplying mule accounts to cyber criminals, under which the Criminal Investigation Department has been actively investigating.

“People should not share their bank account details, ATM cards, or passwords with anyone. Sharing such information for commission is a serious criminal offence,” the officer said. “The operation is the result of months of intelligence gathering. The accused also collected ATM cards from unsuspecting citizens. During the raids, laptops, multiple mobile phones, debit cards and SIM cards were seized.”

The authorities emphasised that the crackdown is part of ongoing efforts to curb cybercrime across Karnataka and urged citizens to exercise caution and vigilance while handling banking information.