Man linked to Chinese cyber fraud scheme arrested from Gujarat

Hirani confessed to the police that he had travelled to Dubai in January, where he worked in a Chinese call centre for two months. After returning to India, he began arranging fraudulent bank accounts for his Chinese contacts, who oversaw the fraudulent transactions, Valsan said.

The scam came to light on September 27, when Gule Raj, a 25-year-old accountant from Bawana in Delhi, lodged a complaint of being duped of Rs 1,42,200 through an online stock trading scheme. Raj, after watching a YouTube video in July, reportedly joined a WhatsApp group called ‘C714 Upsurge Club’ where stock investment suggestions were sent. Subsequently, a member of the said group persuaded the victim to download ‘Bulk AiD HanPro’ app for trading, said DCP Valsan.

Raj downloaded the app, and his number was further added to another WhatsApp group called ‘Upsurge Club-SVIP001’ where he was directed to invest in particular stocks through the app. The bank account details for depositing the investment amount were further provided in the chat box of the app, the police had learnt from the victim.

“Initially depositing Rs 5,000, the victim was encouraged to make further payments, totalling Rs 1,42,200. However, when Raj attempted to withdraw his so-called ‘profits of Rs 15 lakh’, he was asked for a 20 per cent service fee. The accused kept lingering on the matter before they ultimately, disabled the app and stopped responding,” the officer said.

Later, the victim learned of the group’s fraudulent scheme and lodged a police complaint.

The police set up a team under the supervision of Rajeev Kumar Ambasta (Additional DCP-II, Outer North Delhi) and Joginer Singh (ACP Operations), led by Inspector Raman Kumar Singh (SHO Cyber Crime).

Through technical analysis, the police traced the funds to a shell company called ‘Parmar Trading’ that used to channel the stolen funds to foreign entities. The police froze suspected accounts to prevent further misuse. Further technical analysis revealed that Hirani had been in touch with Chinese individuals through Telegram.

“The funds from Indian victims were converted into USDT (cryptocurrency) through hawala channels and sent to Chinese accounts via Trust Wallet,” DCP Valsan said.

The police are continuing their investigation to identify and apprehend other members of the gang.