The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday warned against illegal digital payment gateways being used for money laundering operations. The ministry in a notification said the illegal payment gateways are being created using mule and rented bank accounts.
“Nation-wide raids by Gujarat Police and Andhra Pradesh Police reveal that trans-national criminals have created illegal digital payment gateways using mule/rented accounts. These illegal infrastructure facilitating money laundering as a service are used for laundering proceeds of multiple nature of cybercrimes,” the notification read.
The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) of the MHA advised “all citizens not to sell/rent their bank accounts/company registration certificate/Udhyam Aadhaar Registration certificate to anyone.”
Warning of consequences, the advisory said: “Illicit funds deposited in such bank accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. Banks may deploy necessary checks to identify misuse of bank accounts that are used for setting up Illegal Payment Gateways.”
The MHA also urged citizens to report any suspicious activity by calling the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 or visiting the official cybercrime reporting website, www.cybercrime.gov.in.