Money laundering is taking place through ‘mule accounts’ – illegal payment gateways – that are organsied by cybercriminals who are active across national boundaries, recent raids by police in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have revealed. The information was shared by officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on October 28.
The word ‘mule account’ is a child of the cybercrime age and is used to mean a bank account that is used for illegal activities such as money laundering and fraudulent transactions. The authorities have claimed that raids have exposed the existence of such mule accounts by criminals without borders. The entire arrangement is used for laundering proceeds of cybercrimes, the statement said.
Mule accounts used to launder money
An official statement stated, “Illicit funds deposited in such bank accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. Banks may deploy checks to identify misuse of bank accounts that are used for setting up Illegal Payment Gateways.”
Following this frightening revelation, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) has cautioned Indians not to allow others to use their bank accounts or company registration certificate or other corporate documents or identities such as Udhyam Aadhaar Registration certificate since these could be used for such criminal activities. The I4C has used the term “sell or rent” their bank accounts or documents in this connection.
Report cybercrime through these means, says I4C
The authorities have stated that people should remain vigilant and should not delay in reporting any incidents of cybercrime. They can use the helpline 1930 for this purpose or log into www.cybercrime.gov.in and follow ‘CyberDost’ channels or account on social media.
Authorities of IC4 have found that criminals try to spot current and saving accounts through social media platforms and use these accounts for such nefarious activities. These mule accounts are usually controlled from overseas.
“An illegal payment gateway is then created using these mule accounts given to criminal syndicates for accepting deposits on illegal platforms like fake investment scam sites, offshore betting and gambling websites, fake stock trading platforms, etc.,” it said.
“Funds are immediately layered to another account as soon as the crime proceeds are received. Bulk payout facilities provided by banks are misused for the same. Some of the payment gateways identified during operation are PeacePay, RTX Pay, PoccoPay, RPPay, etc. These gateways are learnt to be providing money laundering as a service and are operated by foreign nationals,” the authorities stated.
