RBI Governor: Mule Hunter Tool Success in Fraud Detection

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Thursday said the Mule Hunter tool launched to check digital fraud is showing a good success rate.

MuleHunter.ai, an AI-enabled tool designed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to flag mule accounts, is detecting about 20,000 mule accounts every month.

Mule accounts are intermediary in the movement of fraudulent funds. It helps in channelling and siphoning off fraudulent money.

Last year, the RBI launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based model, namely MuleHunter, to prevent and mitigate digital fraud through the use of mule accounts.

"So, we had our intermediate milestone of 20 banks to adopt it. We are quite near it. It is in the high double digits. Over there, we are well on target to achieve it. It has a good success rate. It will help over there (mule accounts)," he said during an interaction with students after delivering the VKRV Rao Memorial Lecture at the Delhi School of Economics here.

Besides, he said, the RBI is taking a number of measures, including better coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (l4C) under the Home Ministry.

The menace of digital fraud is something which the apex bank is constantly reviewing, he said, adding that it is reviewed at the governor level and Deputy Governor level as to how to improve the safety and security of banks and the payment system.

To safeguard against digital fraud, Malhotra said the general public is very vigilant and alert, and desists from sharing critical information like One Time Password (OTP).

He cautioned that customers should not be lured by schemes which promise huge returns.