In a major victory against cybercrime in India, the Jharkhand CID (Criminal Investigation Department) has busted a sprawling syndicate involved in high-value online investment frauds. With the help of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the CID uncovered a vast network of over 15,000 mule accounts used to launder and route illegal earnings across states.

This operation reveals the increasing scale and complexity of digital financial crimes in India, where everyday bank accounts are being misused for massive fraud.

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What is a Mule Account?

A mule account is a legitimate bank account used illegally to transfer stolen or scammed money. These accounts are either willingly rented out by individuals or taken over through phishing and fraud.

In this case, the criminals used these accounts to receive funds from fake investment schemes, later routing the money through several layers to avoid detection.

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How the Scam Worked

1. Fake Investment Offers: Victims were lured with promises of high returns through social media ads, fake trading apps, and WhatsApp messages.
2. Advance Payments: Interested individuals were asked to deposit amounts into what appeared to be normal bank accounts.
3. Mule Accounts: These bank accounts belonged to regular people who either sold access or were tricked into letting fraudsters use them.
4. Layered Transfers: Once money was received, it was routed through multiple accounts (layering) and eventually withdrawn or converted into cryptocurrency.

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Key Discoveries from the Investigation

Name	Location	Amount Processed
Roshan Kumar	Ranchi	₹10.2 crore
Satish Kumar	Ranchi	₹6.2 crore
Jeetendra Kumar	Jamtara	₹5.1 crore
Pran Ranjan Sinha	Palamu	₹1.6 crore
Rajendra Kumar Sahu	Koderma	₹67 lakh

• These accounts were flagged for high-value transactions with no legitimate business backing.
• CID has confirmed a total of ₹32.6 crore was routed through the first 40 accounts investigated.

Arrests and Seizures

So far, 14 people have been arrested from various parts of Jharkhand, including:

• Ranchi
• Palamu
• Koderma
• Jamtara
• Lohardaga
• Simdega

Items seized include:

• Mobile phones
• SIM cards
• Bank passbooks and ATM cards
• Fake company registrations
• WhatsApp conversations tied to fraudulent schemes

States Affected

The mule accounts extended beyond Jharkhand to other states including:

• Bihar
• Odisha
• Uttar Pradesh
• West Bengal
• Gujarat
• Kerala
• Karnataka
• Andhra Pradesh
• Tamil Nadu
• Himachal Pradesh
• Chhattisgarh
• Delhi

This highlights the pan-India scale of the network and its sophisticated operations.

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Legal Action and Investigative Tools

• An FIR was filed on July 29, targeting 40 primary (Layer-1) mule accounts.
• The CID used the Samanvaya Portal of the I4C to track suspicious financial transactions and coordinate arrests.
• Investigations are underway on 33 more accounts, with expectations of further arrests.

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Public Advisory: How to Stay Safe

1. Don’t share your bank details or documents with unknown individuals or agents.
2. Never rent or sell your bank account to others — it can make you legally liable for crimes.
3. Be skeptical of high-return investment offers that require upfront payments.
4. Verify trading apps and platforms via SEBI and RBI registered sources.
5. Report suspicious financial activity at cybercrime.gov.in or dial 1930.