Telangana Police launch special operation against cybercrime
Hyderabad, Feb 25 : The Telangana police on Wednesday launched ‘Operation Crackdown’, a special operation to break the cybercrime network across the state.
Conceived by Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), ‘Operation Crackdown’ will involve a series of operations over the next few months, wherein the TGCSB, in collaboration with districts and commissionerates, will target the crime-criminal networks and Cybercrime ecosystem in the state so as to dismantle them and control cybercrime in the state, Director General of Police (DGP) B. Shivadhar Reddy.
The first operation in this series was launched on Wednesday in 16 districts /units, specifically targeting mule bank accounts.
Data analysis by TGCSB revealed that during 2025, a total of 4,775 mule accounts were operated in the state.
According to the DGP, as part of today’s operation, 1,888 suspected mule accounts opened in 137 bank branches spread across 16 districts/units were checked. These accounts were found linked to 9,431 crime links across the country, including 782 in Telangana.
A total of 137 Police teams, compromising of 512 officers/personnel were involved in today’s coordinated drive. These teams have visited and inspected 137 bank branches and collected KYC details of suspicions mule account holders.
The checking and verification are presently underway. Initial verification has shown that many of these branches have multiple mule accounts, in some cases running into hundreds, giving rise to suspicion of collusion of bank staff as well as, an organised network of agents etc.
A single account operating from Sultan Bazar, Hyderabad, was found to be linked with 496 crime complaints across multiple jurisdictions and in Suryapet district, it was found that in four Bank branches there are 298 accounts linked across multiple jurisdictions. Cases are being registered wherever required.
The police chief said it was also observed that certain smaller banks which do not have the technical capacity to operate RTGS are using the RTGS of national banks for transfer of funds. There is no proper verification and validation of the persons opening accounts in these banks and this gap is being exploited by cyber criminals.
The ‘Operation Crackdown’ will continue with intensified verification, analysis of financial trails, profiling the account holder details and strict legal action against those involved.
Conceived by Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), ‘Operation Crackdown’ will involve a series of operations over the next few months, wherein the TGCSB, in collaboration with districts and commissionerates, will target the crime-criminal networks and Cybercrime ecosystem in the state so as to dismantle them and control cybercrime in the state, Director General of Police (DGP) B. Shivadhar Reddy.
The first operation in this series was launched on Wednesday in 16 districts /units, specifically targeting mule bank accounts.
Data analysis by TGCSB revealed that during 2025, a total of 4,775 mule accounts were operated in the state.
According to the DGP, as part of today’s operation, 1,888 suspected mule accounts opened in 137 bank branches spread across 16 districts/units were checked. These accounts were found linked to 9,431 crime links across the country, including 782 in Telangana.
A total of 137 Police teams, compromising of 512 officers/personnel were involved in today’s coordinated drive. These teams have visited and inspected 137 bank branches and collected KYC details of suspicions mule account holders.
The checking and verification are presently underway. Initial verification has shown that many of these branches have multiple mule accounts, in some cases running into hundreds, giving rise to suspicion of collusion of bank staff as well as, an organised network of agents etc.
A single account operating from Sultan Bazar, Hyderabad, was found to be linked with 496 crime complaints across multiple jurisdictions and in Suryapet district, it was found that in four Bank branches there are 298 accounts linked across multiple jurisdictions. Cases are being registered wherever required.
The police chief said it was also observed that certain smaller banks which do not have the technical capacity to operate RTGS are using the RTGS of national banks for transfer of funds. There is no proper verification and validation of the persons opening accounts in these banks and this gap is being exploited by cyber criminals.
The ‘Operation Crackdown’ will continue with intensified verification, analysis of financial trails, profiling the account holder details and strict legal action against those involved.