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Hyderabad Police Press Banks To Put Safety Over Account-Opening Targets

The push signals a shift to KPIs that prize customer safety over account volume.

Overview

  • Hyderabad’s police chief urged banks to adopt a twin-challenge KPI that sets branch targets of zero cybercrime victims and no mule accounts.
  • Branch performance would be tracked using complaints in the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal linked to each branch, with strict KYC, extra checks, and real-time monitoring required.
  • Banks were asked to deploy tools such as Mule Hunter, set low initial transaction limits for new accounts, and flag transfer patterns that suggest mule activity.
  • He called for forensic audits of accounts opened by flagged staff and for blacklisting employees found complicit with cyber criminals across the sector.
  • Customer safeguards included fraud alerts by SMS, clear in-branch warnings, prompts during large transfers or early fixed-deposit closures, and guidance to use helpline 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in.