Patna — Bihar Police have flagged 1,09,475 suspected mule bank accounts holding a combined balance of Rs 72.53 crore across all 38 districts of the state, as the force launched Cyber Prahar 5.0, its latest drive against digital financial fraud. A mule account is an account used to receive, transfer or withdraw money obtained through illegal activity, including online fraud, and investigators believe the flagged accounts were used by cybercrime networks to route the proceeds of fraud through multiple layers to obscure their source.

Source: UrbanAcres

Inspector General of Police Ranjit Kumar Mishra of the Cyber Crime and Security Unit disclosed the figures at a press conference at police headquarters in Sardar Patel Bhavan, Patna, on Friday. He said acting against the flagged accounts and tracing the beneficiaries of the Rs 72.53 crore parked inside them is the primary operational focus of Cyber Prahar 5.0, which the police said began on November 13.

Source: TheKanal (citing Amar Ujala)

Patna recorded the highest number of flagged accounts at 14,644, followed by Gaya with 6,172, Muzaffarpur with 4,244, Bhagalpur with 4,197 and Nalanda with 4,146. West Champaran had 3,945, Siwan 3,859, Vaishali 3,441 and Aurangabad 3,326. Police said Nawada, Nalanda and Patna have consistently reported high levels of cyber fraud. More than half of the suspected accounts are held with two public-sector banks — Punjab National Bank, with 29,931, and the State Bank of India, with 25,950 — with accounts also identified at the Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bandhan Bank and Canara Bank.

Source: UrbanAcres

The scale of the problem in Bihar is reflected in the complaint numbers: during September and October 2026 alone, the state registered 47,659 cybercrime complaints out of 5,69,160 filed nationally, and fraudsters siphoned off Rs 121.26 crore in the state during that period, according to the police figures cited at the briefing. Police and banking interventions placed Rs 36.94 crore on hold — 30.46% of the amount reported stolen, a freezing rate the cyber unit said was higher than the national average of 28.35% — and Rs 8.04 crore had been refunded to victims.

Source: UrbanAcres

Cyber Prahar 5.0 follows two earlier phases. Under Cyber Prahar 4.0, police identified 3,177 suspected mule accounts, registered 15 first information reports, arrested seven suspects and served notices on 448 individuals. Under Cyber Prahar 4.1, another 1,226 accounts were flagged, resulting in 17 FIRs and 12 arrests, including six point-of-sale SIM card sellers. Across the drives, the cyber unit blocked 385 SIM cards and 442 mobile handsets, removed 2,172 objectionable social media posts and helped secure the deletion of 549 social media accounts; 278 police personnel have received specialised cybercrime training.

Source: The 420

Police have also announced another cyber police station in Patna district. On the prevention side, the message “Call 1930 immediately in case of cyber fraud” is being printed on 20 lakh Sudha milk packets every day and is scheduled to appear on electricity bills, awareness jingles have been broadcast on FM radio, and digital campaigns have reached more than 18.6 lakh people. A statewide hackathon involving 153 teams is under way to develop technology-based solutions for cybercrime control, with final results expected on November 28.

Source: UrbanAcres