‘Electronics firm’ in Delhi, ‘NGO’ in Thane: How shell companies helped cyber fraud syndicate siphon Rs 2.7 crore

Police said victims were lured into fake stock market investments and duped. This duped money, they said, was funnelled into the accounts of shell companies such as GTR Electronics Pvt Ltd and Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation.“Investors were trapped using fake trading dashboards, showing manipulated profits, on platforms like Spreadex Global Ltd,” a police officer said.

Police said the case came to light when a 55-year-old businessman from Inderpuri area in West Delhi filed a complaint, alleging that he lost Rs 1.6 crore after being lured by a woman through social media.

“The woman approached him on Facebook and induced him to invest in Spreadex Global Ltd — a fake UK-based trading platform. She then added him to a Whatsapp group and over three months, the accused ended up putting in Rs. 1.6 crore,” the police official added.

Police claim that Rs 15 lakh of the man’s money was traced to GTR Electronics, whose office was found registered at Shakarpur in East Delhi.

“We got the rent agreement from the landlord, found his Aadhaar card copy and traced his number to the Ballabgarh area in Haryana,” a police officer involved in the investigation said.

Officers said that Sunil was arrested during a strategic raid on November 24, and he admitted to the police that he was the one who registered GTR Electronics with his associates.

The police then traced Rs 11 lakh of the duped amount to Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation’s account. The police found that one Vishal and his wife were ‘running’ the NGO that acted as another receiving account for cybercrime proceeds.“The husband-wife duo operated bank accounts of Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation, and provided full access to the syndicate operators,” DCP Gautam said.

“Sunil, meanwhile, arranged a fake office in Shakarpur using fabricated documents solely for laundering fraud funds. He also handed over company documents, credentials, and operational material to his associates, who ran the actual fraud operations,” DCP Gautam said.

Police also said the investigation so far has linked 13 complaints on the National Cyber Reporting Platform to GTR Electronics involving Rs 88.40 lakh, and 45 complaints to the Udyam Women Empowerment Foundation involving Rs 22 lakh.

“We have only traced the first layer of mule accounts now…,” a senior police officer said.

“As of now we have only traced the first layer accounts. The second layer of mules accounts is still being studied. We are expecting more than 150 complaints associated with these accounts,” a senior police officer said.