Safety
What a mule account is, and why the rent is the trap
I4C says not to sell or rent a bank account. Money that is not yours can arrive, and the alert says that can lead to arrest.
Key facts
- I4C's alert of 28 Oct 2024, 7:49 PM, describes mule or rented accounts used to build illegal payment gateways.
- The alert says accounts are scouted mainly on Telegram and Facebook, then controlled from overseas.
- Named uses include fake investment sites, offshore betting and gambling sites, and fake stock platforms.
- I4C's advice is not to sell or rent a bank account, a company registration, or a Udyam Aadhaar certificate.
- The alert says illicit funds can lead to legal consequences, including arrest, and tells people to report on 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in.
This page is not legal advice. It describes the I4C alert of 28 Oct 2024 and two newspaper reports opened on 9 Nov 2026. Arrests and probes in those reports are allegations, not findings by this site.
Contents
A mule account, in the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre's words, is a bank account criminals use to receive and move other people's money, often after it is rented or sold. I4C's alert of 28 Oct 2024 says not to sell or rent your account. Illicit funds in it can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. Report at 1930 or at cybercrime.gov.in. This page does not invent a penalty section beyond that warning.
| Point | The alert's words, in short |
|---|---|
| What is misused | Current and savings accounts of shell firms or individuals, called mule or rented accounts |
| How they are found | Scouted on social media, mainly Telegram and Facebook |
| Who controls them | The alert says they are controlled remotely from overseas |
| What they feed | Illegal payment gateways for fake investment sites, offshore betting and gambling sites, fake stock platforms |
| What happens next | Funds are layered to another account as soon as they arrive |
| The public line | Do not sell or rent the account. Report on 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in |
What does mule account mean?
The Press Information Bureau release, posted at 7:49 PM on 28 Oct 2024, is an alert from I4C in the Ministry of Home Affairs. It says nationwide raids by Gujarat Police and Andhra Pradesh Police found that transnational criminals had created illegal digital payment gateways using mule or rented accounts. The infrastructure, the alert says, is used to launder proceeds of more than one kind of cybercrime, described there as money laundering as a service. In everyday speech the same idea is called a mule account, a rented account, or, in Hindi reporting, म्यूल अकाउंट. The alert does not publish a separate Marathi definition. The warning is the same in any language: the account is yours on the bank's books, and the money moving through it may not be.
How do betting rackets use rented accounts?
The alert's third point says an illegal payment gateway built on these accounts is given to criminal syndicates to take deposits on illegal platforms, and it names offshore betting and gambling websites among them. Funds, it says, are immediately layered onward, and bulk payout facilities are misused for that. The betting-app guide is about the UPI PIN and the unknown app. This page is about the account that receives the money. The 2025 Act, in force from 1 May 2026, is a different text: the Act explainer records that banks are barred from processing payments linked to online money games. That bar is not the same sentence as the I4C alert, and this page does not merge them into one offence.
The usual lure is a commission
The alert says the accounts are scouted on social media. The offer that matches the warning is a payment for the use of the account, the passbook, the ATM card, the UPI handle, or a one-time password. A 'part-time payment job' that needs your account, not your labour, is the same shape. Dainik Bhaskar's Bhilai report, opened on 9 Nov 2026 and then marked a day old on that page, says Khursipar police arrested four people alleged to be running satta through an app the paper names Reddy Anna 108, after a tip on 7 Nov. The paper says the seizure included two laptops, 17 phones, 15 ATM cards and 90,000 rupees in cash, and that preliminary questioning indicated the accused used other people's bank accounts and ATM cards, with the holders reportedly paid a commission or a fixed sum. This page does not repeat the names or ages of the people arrested. The report is the police action as the paper described it, not a judgment.
What can happen to the account holder?
I4C's sentence is the one this page will stand on: illicit funds deposited in such accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. The alert also says banks may deploy checks to identify misuse. It does not set out a section number, a mandatory sentence, or a number of days for which an account stays restricted. This page will not add those. A hold or a freeze is something to raise with the bank, using a number from the bank's own site, and with the cybercrime report if money that is not yours has moved. The complaint guide is for reporting. The status guide is for a receipt you already have. Neither guide is a promise that an account will be opened.
Someone asked for the account, or you already shared it
Stop. Do not send the card, the PIN, the OTP, or a fresh photograph of the passbook. Keep the chat. Tell the bank's fraud desk through the bank's own number that the account may be misused, and report at cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930, which is the helpline the I4C alert names. Do not pay a stranger who says they can clear your name. That second payment is the pattern in the recovery-fee guide. This is not a defence, and it is not a statement that a person who knowingly rented the account has done nothing wrong. I4C's warning is the opposite.
Two reports, dated and attributed
The Times of India, Mumbai, 3 Nov 2026, 11:44 AM IST, reported that Mumbai Police had started a parallel investigation into an alleged network of mule bank accounts used to route funds from online gaming, betting and cyber fraud, alongside an Enforcement Directorate investigation the paper links to All Panel Exchange and MGM91. The report says the city crime branch had arrested 12 members alleged to have operated from a villa in Calangute, Goa, and that investigators suspect more than 500 crore rupees of cyber-fraud proceeds were laundered using mule accounts. Those are the paper's account of a police and ED probe. They are not a list of guilty people, and this page leaves out the private names the complaint is said to contain. A past result on the Kalyan jodi chart has nothing to do with either investigation.
- Do not share the passbook, ATM card, UPI handle, PIN or OTP, even for a commission.
- Keep screenshots of the request. Do not delete the chat in a panic.
- Call the fraud desk on a number printed on the bank's own website or app.
- Report at www.cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930, the line I4C named on 28 Oct 2024.
Common questions
Mule account kya hota hai?
In the I4C alert of 28 Oct 2024, it is a bank account, sometimes rented, used so that other people's crime proceeds can be received and moved on. The alert tells citizens not to sell or rent the account.
What is the Hindi for mule account?
Reports and everyday speech say म्यूल अकाउंट. The I4C alert itself is in English and also says 'mule or rented accounts'. It does not give a separate Marathi glossary entry.
Is there a fixed punishment for a mule account?
The alert says illicit funds can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. It does not print a section or a mandatory sentence. The penalty in a given case is for a court, on the facts. This page will not invent one.
How do I check whether my account is being misused?
Read the bank statement and ask the bank, through its own number, about transfers you do not recognise. The alert does not name a public 'mule check' website. Do not use a link a stranger sends for that purpose.
Is renting my account for a commission legal?
I4C's advice is not to sell or rent it. The alert says the funds can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. A commission does not make the warning go away.
Sources
- Press Information Bureau, I4C alert on mule accounts and illegal payment gateways, 28 Oct 2024, 7:49 PMpib.gov.in
- Dainik Bhaskar, Bhilai report of four arrests and rented accounts, opened 9 Nov 2026bhaskar.com
- The Times of India, Mumbai, mule-account probe linked to a betting network, 3 Nov 2026, 11:44 AM ISTtimesofindia.indiatimes.com
- Directorate General of Health Services, National Mental Health Programmedghs.mohfw.gov.in
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