India Supreme Court orders RBI to SOP on mule accounts

The Supreme Court of India has issued a series of nationwide directives to strengthen the country’s response to cyber-enabled financial fraud, particularly "digital arrest" scams, and to expedite redressal for victims. The orders, delivered on Tuesday, August 4, by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, came during a hearing of a suo motu case concerning victims of digital arrest related to forged documents.

The bench directed the Reserve Bank of India to prepare and circulate a standard operating procedure for dealing with "mule accounts"-bank accounts used to launder illicit funds-within four weeks. It also ordered all states, union territories, and law enforcement agencies to swiftly operationalize existing grievance redressal and money restoration modules. Copies of the RBI's SOP are to be furnished to the Registrar General of every High Court.

The court's directions follow its review of a status report from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which indicated progress in combating such fraud. The report showed that complaints of digital arrest scams received via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal had fallen from...