Chandigarh, Aug 19 (PTI) Haryana Police has identified 91 bank branches in the state where suspected 'mule accounts' are being operated by cybercriminals for large-scale transactions, as part of its crackdown against cybercrime.

Among these, 26 branches are in Gurugram and 24 in Nuh district, officials said on Tuesday.

According to an official statement, police teams have initiated phased verification, inspection, and legal action after identifying these branches.

Special teams of the Cyber Crime Wing are conducting a detailed examination of the records of these branches to find out whether negligence or collusion by bank staff is facilitating cybercriminals.

"The teams are scrutinising lapses in KYC compliance, procedural violations in account opening, the role of bank employees, and any sign of negligence," the statement said.

As part of the drive, raids were conducted in Karnal and Yamunanagar districts on Tuesday, during which bank records were thoroughly checked and suspicious accounts examined.

In Yamunanagar, teams of the Cyber Crime Wing traced a current account of a firm that was officially shut down in March, yet transactions worth Rs 43 lakh were carried out afterwards.

Nationwide, eight complaints have been registered against this account, the statement further said.

Another current account was found to have been opened on a false address, and transactions worth Rs 2 crore were made in just three months. This account has 33 complaints filed against it across the country.

"The role of account holders and the bank staff concerned are under scanner... This operation will not remain confined to just two districts. Similar raids will be extended to other suspicious bank branches in the coming days," the statement said.

Haryana Police chief Shatrujeet Kapur on Tuesday said a robust and multi-pronged strategy has been devised to clamp down on cybercrime.

This includes strict monitoring of bank branches, rapid analysis of suspicious transactions, regular raids, and ensuring adherence to banking regulations, he said.

The DGP emphasised that protecting citizens' hard-earned money from falling into the trap of cybercriminals is a top priority. Alongside police, banks have equal responsibility, and hence accountability of bank officials and cyber nodal officers is being fixed, he stressed.

Inspector General, Cyber, Shibas Kabiraj said cybercriminals often pose as bank officials, police officers, government agents, or representatives of reputed companies to make fraudulent calls, send suspicious links, or trick people into downloading suspicious apps.

"In such situations, citizens must never share their OTP, ATM PIN, UPI PIN, passwords, or personal documents like Aadhaar and PAN, nor scan any unknown link or QR code," he said.

Kabiraj said banks and government agencies never ask for money transfers or sensitive information over the phone. "Citizens must stay alert to emerging scams such as 'digital arrests, where fraudsters intimidate victims over video calls while posing as law enforcement officials, something no genuine police or agency ever does." PTI SUN NSD NSD

Mule accounts enable organised cyberfraud; targeted inspections and staff accountability measures launched to curb suspicious banking transactions. Police identified bank branches operating suspected mule accounts and initiated phased verification, inspections, and legal action. Cyber Crime Wing teams are examining branch records to ascertain negligence or collusion by bank staff, scrutinising lapses in KYC compliance, procedural violations in account opening, and the roles of account holders and employees. Raids and record checks have uncovered active transactions in accounts tied to closed firms and accounts opened on false addresses, prompting multiple complaints and commitments to expand similar inspections to other suspicious branches.