Following an ₹11 crore cyber crime cheating case, the North East Division Cyber Crime police unearthed an international racket and arrested a gang of three for their involvement in a digital arrest cyber crime racket.
The accused, identified as Karan, 24, Tarun Natani, 26, and, Dhawal Shah, 35, were arrested from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh and different parts of Gujarat, while efforts are on to track down the kingpin who is operating from Dubai.
The accused, according to the police, targeted Vijay Kumar, a city-based software engineer who had received shares of his company worth ₹12 crore.
Posing as ED, customs and police officials, they threatened Vijay with a money laundering case and said he would be arrested. The accused, on the pretext of an inquiry ‘digitally arrested’ Vijay for a month before accessing his ID proof, KYC and bank details.
They later shared nine bank accounts with him and told him to transfer the money to their “official” account for verification, assuring that it would be returned after the process. After the money was transferred, the accused escaped and switched off their phones. Based on the complaint, the police tracked them down via the money trail and mobile phone records to their locations in Allahabad and Surat in Gujarat.
Jeweller questioned
The accused had shared the bank account of a jeweller from Surat from whom they had purchased gold valuables worth ₹7.5 crore. The police questioned the jeweller and tracked down the accused who were working for the kingpin on commission. The three would arrange mule accounts and SIM cards under different names to be used for the scam. Karan, one of the accused, had even handed over many mule accounts and SIM cards to the accused personally in Dubai which are said to be used for scams committed in neighbouring countries, a police officer said .
The trio is said to be involved in similar scams as the SIM cards were used in different cases. They have been taken into custody for further investigation.
Published – January 20, 2025 09:51 pm IST
