Imagine opening a bank account for a small fee and then turning it over to a complete stranger to move money through it?
Well, thats become a big social trend in India as scams soar.
Cybercriminals in India are turning ordinary bank accounts into massive pipelines for their stolen cash. And the scale might shock you.
The Numbers Are Hard To Believe
A new report this week reveals that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation confirmed 850,000 mule accounts in 2025 that were used by criminals to move stolen money. Those accounts were opened through a network of 700 bank branches across the country.
And those are just the accounts that investigators could prove. They filed over 2.4 million suspicious activity reports of accounts they believe are mules but just couldn’t prove. Many of those accounts are still open.
The flood of mule accounts is being driven by an influx of scams – primarily Digital Arrest and other impersonation schemes that are terrorizing the country.
In 2025 Indians filed 2.8 million cybercrime complaints and lost the equivalent of about $2.6 billion to fraud. Mule accounts were behind nearly all of it.
“Are You Looking For Money?”
Recruiting money mules in India is a machine that never stops. There are typically two basic steps criminals use to get ordinary people to become their pawns.
Step 1 – Criminals Post Fake Job Ads
Criminals will recruit victims by posting fake job advertisements promising easy money. They will post the ads on social media, or send emails to millions of people.
Vulnerable groups like students, senior citizens, and low-income individuals are often targeted with offers of commission for simply receiving money and promising to send it to another account.
Step 2 – The Muling Begins
Once they have a complicit victim they start the process of deposits. Those deposits come directly from other scam victims (e.g., investment fraud, phishing, identity theft and digital arrest).
The mule is then instructed to withdraw the money and transfer it to another account, either domestically or internationally, keeping a small percentage as “payment”.
India Fights Back
India has nearly tripled their cybercrime police stations, growing from about 169 stations in 2020 to 460 stations today.
Banks are also getting in on it and are distributing awareness comic books to new customers.
The fraud keeps coming in though at record rates. Even as banks stopped $1 billion in fraud, the number of cases skyrocketed 24% last year.
