RBI to deploy AI for hunting down mule accounts
The Reserve bank of India is rolling out a AI / ML based model called MuleHunter.AI for detection of mule bank accounts.
“A pilot with two large public sector banks has yielded encouraging results. Banks are encouraged to collaborate with Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to further develop the MuleHunter.AI initiative to deal with the issue of mule bank accounts being used for committing financial frauds.” RBI said in a statement.
The Reserve Bank has been taking various measures in coordination with banks and other stakeholders to prevent and mitigate digital frauds in the financial sector. These include RBI guidelines to regulated entities for strengthening cybersecurity, cyber fraud prevention and transaction monitoring.
Use of money mule accounts is a common method adopted by fraudsters to channel proceeds of frauds. The Reserve Bank is currently running a hackathon on the theme “Zero Financial Frauds” which includes a specific problem statement on mule accounts, to encourage development of innovative solutions to contain the use of mule accounts.
There has been a concerning bump in mule accounts in India, in line with the growing global threat, as per a report by global digital fraud detection company BioCatch. Most mule activity at 14 per cent of the total, was seen in Bhubaneswar followed by Lucknow and Navi Mumbai for 3.4 per cent each. Mumbai was 2.2 per cent, Bengaluru at 1.8 per cent, and Cuttack at 1.6 per cent.