New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) Looking to strengthen the fight against cyber frauds, the Union Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for collaboration, an official said on Tuesday.

The two agencies will work together for combating cyber-enabled financial frauds and curtailing mule accounts across the banking and digital payments ecosystem, said the official in a statement.

The MoU aims to facilitate cooperation in the areas of fraud-risk Intelligence sharing, analytical support, and operational coordination for strengthening proactive fraud detection and prevention mechanisms, it said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, posted on X, “Modi govt is tirelessly working for cyber secure Bharat. Mule accounts are big hurdles in curbing cyber crimes. Today, the I4C under MHA signed an MoU with Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) unleashing the power of Artificial Intelligence to combat cyber fraud.”

“The move will swiftly detect and cull hidden mule accounts by feeding the data from the I4C’s Suspect Registry to the AI-driven fraud detection system and serve the citizens as their next gen shield against cyber crime,” he said.

Under the MoU, I4C and RBIH will collaborate for sharing of mule account related Intelligence and suspect identifiers from I4C-MHA’s Suspect Registry to strengthen AI-driven fraud detection systems such as MuleHunter.ai implemented across banks.

RBIH will utilise the datasets for training and enhancement of AI-driven fraud-risk assessment models, including MuleHunter.ai, said the statement.

The MoU was signed by Roopa M, IG (Admin), I4C and Sahil Kinni, CEO, RBIH in the presence of Rohit Jain, Deputy Governor, RBI; Anand Swaroop, Special Secretary (IS), MHA; Rakesh Rathi, JS (CIS), MHA; Rajesh Kumar, CEO, I4C and other senior officers from RBI, RBIH and I4C.

The I4C has been working towards strengthening and collaborating for India’s cybercrime response ecosystem through platforms such as the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), Suspect Registry and other Intelligence-sharing mechanisms.

RBIH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, has been promoting innovation in the financial sector through technology-led initiatives and development of AI-enabled fraud detection frameworks aimed at strengthening the safety and resilience of the digital payments ecosystem and thereby increasing the trust of citizens in the digital banking ecosystem, said the statement.

–IANS

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