India plans curbs on suspect bank accounts to fight cyber fraud, sources say

To fight scams, RBI is likely to let banks suspend accounts, freeing victims from first having to file police complaints, said two government sources and a third aware of the central bank's thinking. — Reuters

NEW DELHI: India’s central bank plans to soon change guidelines to permit banks to temporarily freeze accounts suspected of being used to commit cyber crimes, as it battles a rising wave of online crime, three sources told Reuters.

The plans come as internal government data shows individuals have lost funds of nearly US$1.26bil in financial institutions to cyber fraud since 2021, with one of the sources saying about 4,000 fraudulent accounts are opened every day.