Hyderabad: Ten days after Hyderabad’s cybercrime sleuths arrested 32 bank officials during ‘Operation Octopus’, a crackdown taken up across nine states against mule account facilitators, the Union ministry of finance has called for a high-level meeting on Thursday in New Delhi.Officials from the finance ministry wrote to the director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Hyderabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar, chief executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) Rakesh Kumar, managing directors of various banks, officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), requesting them to attend a meeting in Delhi to discuss measures to curb digital arrest cases and mule accounts.During ‘Operation Octopus 2.0′, 52 people, including 32 bank officials from 10 different banks, were arrested for their role in opening 350 mule accounts linked to Rs 150 cr. The arrests of the bank officials were attributed to inadequate verification while opening accounts. Some officials were accused of accepting commissions, while others allegedly opened accounts to meet the targets set by their respective banks.It is learnt that the Hyderabad police will brief about their findings, including shortcomings in KYC verification, identified during the two phases of the operation, and suggest measures to be taken up by the banks to curb mule accounts, which often serve as a source for furtherance of cybercrime.Recently, the Hyderabad CP wrote to the RBI, pointing out a case in the Nasik branch of a private bank, where a KYC verifier allegedly misused a colleague’s credentials to create mule accounts for commission. The police also suggested various measures to strengthen the banking system and prevent the opening of such accounts. Meanwhile, based on SC directions, the CBI is probing a digital arrest case following a complaint by a senior citizen and has recently arrested three persons, including an assistant bank manager, for opening mule bank accounts.
