MHA’s AI vision: Predictive policing, dark web monitoring, and end of mule accounts

Tabled in Lok Sabha Monday, here are the key ways from the draft report, which states that MHA is utilising AI to add more teeth to its existing capabilities, especially in the field of cybercrime and financial fraud prevention, as well as what is expected in the future in this direction.

Modernising cybercrime reporting and investigation: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the nodal anti-cybercrime agency under the MHA, is planning to implement an AI-assisted complaint registration system for the 1930 cybercrime helpline to reduce complaint lodgement time and improve the user experience through guided interaction. This will be compatible with most regional and native languages.

Monitoring mule accounts used in cyberfraud: The I4C, in collaboration with IIT Bombay, is exploring the use of AI to assign ‘suspect scores’ to mule accounts by analysing behavioural and transactional patterns to help identify confirmed mule accounts.

I4C is also engaging with the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) to develop a model that provides real-time suspect scoring for financial transactions, enabling banks to flag and potentially stop fraudulent transactions proactively as “a robust layer of defence” against financial cybercrimes.

Proactive Monitoring Tool (PMT): An AI-based tool developed by CDAC Mumbai, this is currently being used to screen and verify Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) content in cyber tipline received via the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) before they are forwarded to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The AI model is being fine-tuned, and it is proposed to be extended to crawl the open web to proactively identify CSEAM content.

Monitoring dark web: I4C uses AI-based tools to monitor dark web, scam websites, and fraud networks for tracking cybercrime discussions, phishing campaigns, and suspicious financial transactions.

Enhancing efficiency of mule hunter app: A draft MOU is under process between RBI Innovation Hub and I4C to enhance the efficiency of the ‘mule hunter application’, an in-house AI/ML-based solution. RBIH’s Mulehunter.ai model provides AI/ML-based solutions for identifying and mitigating risks related to mule accounts, enhancing fraud detection capabilities across the banking system. The integration of the same with I4C’s NCRP-CFCFRMS/Suspect Registry will assist in faster and more accurate mitigation measures against cyber financial Fraud.

Surakshini: A centre run by the MHA, it keeps an eye on crimes related to children and women and helps remove vulgar content, with the Ministry sharing a ‘hash’ value. Currently, the Online Cybercrime against Women and Children (OCWC) team under I4C identifies complaints related to Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) and Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII) received through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).

The OCWC team share URLs and links reported in the complaints with Social Media Intermediaries (SMIs) via the SAHYOG platform for content takedown. These requests are followed up to ensure compliance and timely removal. Under the proposed SURAKSHINI initiative, a dedicated Mitigation Centre will be established to strengthen this process.

Once operational, SURAKSHINI will facilitate the creation of a comprehensive hashbank for CSEAM and NCII content, allowing SMIs to proactively detect and prevent the upload of such harmful content using automated hash-matching, thereby shifting from an ‘active takedown approach to a preventive content moderation model.’

The SURAKSHINI dashboard will also provide end-to-end visibility into complaint status, takedown timelines, and FIR registration, helping improve coordination and accountability across platforms and law enforcement agencies.

Going forward

Detecting forged government documents

Forensic departments functioning under the MHA, equipped with forensic technologies such as the Video Spectral Comparator, Projectina, advanced digital stereomicroscopes, Traso Scan, ProScope, and other specialised instruments, and are supported by trained and qualified personnel possessing the requisite expertise.

AI–based tools are currently being deployed by forensic institutions in investigations into digital and cybercrime, but the use of AI in document forgery examination has not yet been operationalised, as the technology remains nascent and requires further validation of its efficacy.

AI at international borders

While the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) is currently not using AI for the immigration process, the Immigration, Visa Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) (Version 3.0), commences on April 1, 2026. It aims at a “comprehensive transformation of India’s immigration, visa, and traveller management ecosystem by leveraging emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for intelligent traveller profiling, and exploring Blockchain to enhance the authenticity and security of digital records”.