The Department of Financial Services (DFS) has on Thursday instructed banks to adopt the MuleHunter.AI tool developed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) BI at the earliest for timely identification and prevention of mule accounts involved in financial cyber frauds.
M Nagaraju , Secretary, DFS chaired a meeting with V C Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad and senior officials from CBI, RBI, IDPIC, and banks to review the digital financial frauds and increasing use of mule accounts by the cyber criminals.
The meeting reviewed key findings of ‘Operation Octopus’ recently carried out by the Hyderabad Police to crackdown on cyber-fraud. The secretary said there was a need to strengthen coordinated efforts to combat cyber-enabled financial frauds and enhance customer protection.
He also emphasised the need closer collaboration among law enforcement agencies and banks, real-time intelligence sharing, and faster response mechanisms to detect and prevent digital financial frauds.
The SLBCs were advised to sensitise the State police authorities about the steps taken by the banks for prevention of cyber financial frauds and undertake greater public awareness initiatives, according to a post by the DFS on X.
The meeting was convened after the Hyderabad police had requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to place an independent third party cyber-safety performance Assessment for scheduled commercial banks to effectively check cyber financial frauds.
Operation Octopus
Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar made a set of recommendations on the basis of the findings of the Operation Octopus, a two-phase pan India investigation into the cyber frauds, conducted by the Hyderabad City Police in in February and April this year.
It resulted in the arrest of 169 accused including 32 serving bank officials from 10 banks in connection with their alleged conspiracy in the opening and operation of mule bank accounts used to facilitate cyber fraud.
“Secretary, DFS chaired a high-level meeting with officials, including myself, in New Delhi today to review Hyderabad Police’s recent crackdown on mule accounts under ‘Operation Octopus,’’ Sajjanar told businessline.
The discussion centred on key learnings from the operation, with a focus on strengthening coordinated efforts to tackle cyber-enabled financial frauds and enhance customer protection, he added.
Published on April 30, 2026